Artemis's mistake
by Orvon hoolio
Summary: Artemis messes up. And guess who takes the fall. You got it. Me. CC welcomed, but I'm not a fan of flames. Then again, who is? Thanks! Completed.
1. The first dream

**AN: As you may have noticed, this has been redone. But I haven't changed the plot, that's no fun!**

"Now, today we will be looking at Singmaster's conjecture. It asks us: Is there a finite upper bound on the multiplicities of the entries greater than 1 in Pascal's triangle? Now, it is clear that the only number that appears infinitely many times in Pascal's triangle is 1, because any other number _x_ can appear only within the first _x_ + 1 rows of the triangle. So," Mrs. Lynch, my Algebra teacher, went on talking, but I stopped listening. Who the flip was Singmaster and why should I care about him?

"So, if our equation holds correct, our final answer will be…?" she trailed off, obviously looking for volunteers. When she noticed that no one was paying attention, she reverted back to her usual routine. Humiliate me. "Ms. Wolf?"

"Umm... false?" I guessed hopefully. Of course, she just HAD to call on me. But why? I have never expressed any interest in Algebra! Seriously, on my last test, one of the problems said 'Find X', so I circled X, thinking it was like 'Where's Waldo?'. Detention the next day was not fun.

"This wasn't a true or false question you imbecile," (Yes, I know what imbecile means!) she said as she stalked up to my desk. "If you continue to disrupt my class, I will have to be very harsh with you. Very harsh."

She looked very excited as she said that.

Strange. The bell rang and the class packed up. I hastily picked up my books and tried to hurry to the door before-

"Ms. Wolf. Stay behind a moment. I need to discuss something with you. Privately. The class laughed and the group of "populars" smirked. One of them, Willow Reid, mouthed the words "Dead meat" at me and giggled. She left with her friends, leaving me alone with an extremely scary teacher. Mrs. Lynch stalked over to the door, locked it, and pulled the shades down, doing that weird hop/shuffle thing she always did. She turned around to leer at me.

"Fool." She snarled.

"I'm sorry. I'll try harder." I rambled off the standard teacher apology, not knowing what I was apologizing for. Bringing too much happiness and joy to the classroom?

"You should not have been born. Your existence has caused a war between the gods. You must be punished." she barked.

"What?" I asked, kinda freaked out. "I thought corporal punishment was outlawed-"

"Silence. You will understand soon enough, weak one. Now die!" she charged at me, and something weird happened. Not like "Oh no, I lost a button". This was "Oh no, my Algebra teacher turned into a huge reptile and is trying the gnaw my face off!"

I barely had time to think before she raised her huge paw to strike me. For a brief instant, I had a clear view of her. What had been a frail, furious lady was now a monstrous, scaly, scarlet, horned, (other adjectives) lizard. And not the cute kind.

I felt her claws rip through my arm. Even thinking about moving my arm was making my vision go blurry with pain. All of a sudden, everything froze.

The door crashed down and two people charged in. It was Willow and her boyfriend Ward of all people!

"I'll get the dragon," Ward said in a powerful tone. Don't let the old-timey name fool you. Ward was the hottest guy in our school. He had a body any model would sell his soul for. Sorry, that's my inner girl acting up "You work your pony magic on Emily-"

Willow rolled her eyes. She really was quite the brat. "For the last time, I'm not a pony. I'm a satyr. SAY-TER. Jerkface."

Ward sighed and cracked his neck. "Don't make me freeze you in time too."

Willow snorted. "You wouldn't dare," she challenged. She suddenly stopped moving.

Ward grinned. "I guess I would." He pulled out a wickedly sharp looking sword and walked towards me. I started hyperventilating (slowly). With sword in hand, he smiled at me and casually stabbed the lizard (or, I guess it's a dragon) in the delicate underbelly.

Then the weirdest thing happened. The dragon exploded into dust. What the bedazzler?

Ward, looking completely at ease, strolled over to Mrs. Lynch's old desk and rifled through her drawers until he found what he was looking for. A red Sharpie. He pulled the cap off and walked over to Willow. I could practically hear her thoughts, "If you draw on me, so help you…" Ward raised the Sharpie, moved it to right in front of Willow's nose, and then chuckled and put the cap back on.

"Nah. You'd kill me later." He tossed the Sharpie behind him and snapped his fingers, and I realized that I could move again.

Willow rolled her eyes at him and grabbed my arm. She dragged me into Simmons Forest, against my will (not will-ow, ha ha). That's the forest that surrounds my school and it happens to be the second largest forest in Long Island, New York. I trudged along, keeping pace, until I saw my chance. Willow tripped over a stump, and I took off running.

Due to the fact that I was the fastest person in the ninth grade, I quickly left her behind. I knew that Willow couldn't catch me with that limp of hers. Only when I felt myself slowing down, did I remember Ward's stupid time stopping. By some miracle, I managed to keep moving. I heard a haunting tune drift through the air, like wind blowing through tree branches. I must be going insane, because it seemed like the weeds reached up and grabbed my legs. Oh wait. They actually did. With weeds wrapped around my body, I struggled to break free.

Ward came running up and said, "Seriously? After we just saved your life? We're trying to help you! If it wasn't for us, you'd be dragon food! Do you know how tiring stopping time is? It's like stopping a semi-truck that's going 80 miles an hour! And how-"

Willow came clopping up. From the waist up she looked almost normal. Her American Eagle shirt was rumpled, but not torn, and her ponytail had twigs in it. But instead of jeans and tennis shoes, she had-

"Stop yelling at her Ward! How would you like it if two strangers kidnapped you?" Ward tried to interrupt, but she silenced him with a look. "It's time she knew the truth."

Questions were burning in my mind, but the weeds were still around my mouth, so I couldn't say anything. Who, or what, were these people and what did they want with me?

"Look, Emily," she said kindly, "there's something you need to understand. The Greek gods and goddesses? Yeah, they're real. Zeus, Hades, and Apollo are all real gods. The titans are real and so are the monsters. The scratch on your arm is proof of that. Now, if you promise not to run away again, I'll let you go. Ward and I are very tired from the fight and chasing you. So, do you agree?" She raised an eyebrow, like she honestly expected me to answer. I did my best to grunt in what I hoped was an agreeable manner. Willow nodded and the weeds fell away. I coughed and slowly got to my feet. Trying to bite back the tide of questions anxious to be asked, I looked at Willow. She looked at Ward, obviously hoping that he would help explain. Ward, however, sat down and leaned against a tree. His very posture said "Hey, you wanted to tell her. Leave me out of it."

Willow sighed and opened her backpack, which had mysteriously appeared. She pulled out a Ziploc baggie which had some weird golden cubes. Handing one to me, she closed and sealed the baggie, putting it back in her backpack.

"Ummmm…thanks?" What was I supposed to do with it?

"Eat it." I put it in my mouth and strength filled my limbs. Not only that, it tasted delicious, like a warm chocolate brownie straight from the oven. It even made my arm feel better! Willow sat down on a mossy rock. It occurred to me that I could probably get away, but I had too many questions. I sat down on a nearby stump.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Camp Half-blood," she replied.

"Camp What?" I was sure I heard her wrong. "What's a half blood?"

She yawned.

"A Half-blood is the kid of a god and a mortal. Camp Half-blood is the only safe place for kids like us." She said all this and yawned again. I decided to wait until morning to ask her any questions. She might fall asleep talking.

I guessed that it was about 10:00. The moon was full, and just looking at it filled me with energy. I always had trouble falling asleep outside, so I looked around. Ward looked so peaceful, just sleeping. Willow's worry lines disappeared and she was snoring slightly. Her arms were crossed and so were her, I forced myself to think the word, hooves. Yep, you heard me. Hooves. From the waist down, she had a pair of horse's hooves. I made a mental note not to make any My Little Pony references around her. Sliding down onto the ground, I looked at the stars. Suddenly, something clicked. I was going to Camp Half-Blood. That must mean I'm a half-blood. I'm part Olympian!

I had a really weird dream that night.

In my dream, there was a silver doe with glittering fur in a meadow surrounded by a thick, green forest. There were a lot of birds and other things in the meadow, too. I saw an owl, an eagle, a column of fire, and a peacock. It's kinda like a safari. But every one wasn't all chummy-chummy. The birds in particular were vicious. They were mocking the doe. All of them were trying to attack her, so it didn't really seem like a fair fight. But every time the birds flew at the doe, golden arrows would appear out of nowhere and hold them off. Then, when the column of fire tried to advance, a pure white horse galloped up and shot water at the fire. The peacock tried to attack again, but grapevines grew around it and forced the peacock back. A beautiful lady and a biker were watching all this take place from the clouds, and they were laughing. My dream ended with the sound of their laughter.

**AN2: Yes, I went back and redid this. Yes, it still moves fast. No, I'm not going to change that. Review if you like, review if you don't. I'm planning on going back and re-editing the next 2 chapters, so be patient. Thanks, and gods bless!**


	2. In which I get frozen in time

**AN: This one isn't the best, but I'm not making any life-altering changes like I am to the rest.**

I woke up and the sun was shining. Someone (probably Ward) had made a fire and he was cooking some eggs. Willow was sitting on the rock and eating a piece of bacon. No, wait. It was a tin can. An honest-to-goodness tin can. Ward looked up and said,

"Well. Sleeping Beauty finally woke up."

I rolled my eyes and stretched, smiling a little at his comment. Willow finished her can and started talking about our plans for the day. As the scent of eggs penetrated the air, my stomach grumbled loudly, drowning out Willow's voice.

"Want some eggs?" Ward gallantly offered, holding out a paper plate full of them.

I grinned and replied, "Yeah. Thanks."

"So," Willow said conversationally. "How did you sleep? Any strange dreams?"

_How did she know?_

I nodded and told them about my dream between bites. At first, Willow just looked confused, but when Ward whispered something in her ear, she seemed to be worried about something. When I finished, they looked at each other for what seemed like an hour, rudely leaving me out of their telepathic conversation. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer.

"What am I missing that is so important?"

They both turned to look at me and Willow had great sadness in her eyes. Something else flashed across Ward's face. Guilt, maybe? It was gone in a heartbeat. He sighed and answered,

"Something is wrong on Olympus. The gods are fighting."

I scoffed. "So what? In the old stories the gods were always fighting. What is it this time?" I said, sounding like a total snob, I know.

Ward looked at me like I was crazy. Then he shook his head and said, "We have to get going. Come on, I'll explain as we walk."

I got up and followed him and Willow as they left. Even though they were walking kinda fast, I kept up easily. After about 5 minutes, Ward continued the conversation.

"It's true that the gods fight a lot. But this one is bad. Like World War 3 bad. And I can't tell you why they're fighting. All I can tell you is that a god or goddess broke a pretty serious oath. I think they should just make her sit on the naughty mat, but that's just me…" he chuckled and kept walking. We walked in silence for a couple minutes and then a startling thought occurred to me.

"You guys know who my Olympian parent is, don't you?"

Willow answered, "We have a pretty good guess. Your dream and the signs kinda made it obvious." It wasn't a surprise.

"Who is it?" I asked hoping to startle them into answering.

Willow started to answer but Ward cut her off.

"I wish we could tell you but we can't. Only the gods can tell you that. If we told you and they found out..." he shuddered, "being hit with a baseball bat would be more pleasant they what they would do."

"I can keep a secret!" I said earnestly. Ward snorted.

"Keep a secret from the gods? That's like trying to lick your elbow without a tongue, which might actually be our punishment. Maybe when we get into camp, Dionysus will tell you. If not, he or she will have to 'claim' you." he said, and I noticed his effort to stay gender-neutral.

"What do you mean 'claim'?" I asked. "If it's anything like 'marking your territory', you can count me out right now."

Ward and Willow laughed, and I noticed that they weren't nearly as lovey-lovey out here. "Well, usually your parent sends a sign." He said, ducking to avoid a low-hanging branch.

"Who is your Olympian parent?" I asked, whacking my head in the branch he had just ducked under.

"That's private." he said, glaring at me. I was shocked at his total mood-swing, so I didn't recognize the warning signs.

"Come on! It's a simple question," I defended myself.

"None of your business." He answered curtly, roughly pushing past some innocent blueberry bushes.

"Why won't you tel-" I was cut off, not able to move. Ward had stopped time again.

_This is so annoying!_ I thought. Willow was frozen next to me. She did not look like a happy pony- No! Satyr! Bad Emily!

**AN2: Slight changes, but again, nothing major. If you're new to this story, be patient. It kicks up at about chapter 6. No skipping! Thank you all, and turnips blessing upon you and your clan!**


	3. Annoying a god for dummies

**_AN: Sorry for the uber-long delay. That's all I have to say. Slight pun intended_**.

"I don't want to talk about this, all right?" he said as he stormed off, not bothering to restart time. Once he was out of sight, I found that I could move again. Willow sighed from beside me.

"Does this happen a lot?" I asked, stretching.

"Nah. Only when he gets really mad. We need to catch up with him."

"Why? If he's going to be a big baby, I don't know if I want to travel with him at all." I grumbled, looking at the pine trees surrounding us.

"Well, I don't know the way. And be patient with him. He's been through a lot." Willow said reasonably.

"Fine."

We had been walking for several minutes before Ward finally came into view. He was leaning against a tree, waiting for us. Without a word, he turned and led the way once again.

"Sorry," I heard him mutter after a couple minutes. Still angry, I didn't respond. I saw Willow frown out of the corner of my eyes.

After about half an hour of walking, Willow began to hum. At first I didn't recognize the melody, but then I remembered. It was our school's fight song. Smiling, I joined in, singing,

"_Hit them hard and see how they fall._

_Never let that team get the ball._

_Hail, hail, the gang's all here, _

_and we're in for a fun time now!"_

Ward tried to jump in and I immediately fell silent. Let's see how he likes the silent treatment, I thought.

Finally, after what seemed like weeks of walking, we reached a valley. I hadn't noticed it before but we had slowly entered a mountain range. Looking down, I saw that there was a camp snuggly nestled between the two mountains. I could only see a little bit from this height, but I could see patches of strawberries, bright specks of red against the green grass.

As the land sloped downward, I could see more and more of the camp. I saw a bunch of cabins and campers, courts and canoes, swords and satyrs (for full explanation, see Lightning Thief). I couldn't believe how big the camp was. The most I had imagined was a cabin or two and a mess hall. Instead, the camp must be at least 10 acres, maybe even more. There were at least 15 cabins, each one unique. I noticed that we were heading toward a large mansion, the only building that wasn't a cabin. It was cherry red with a black roof. The large porch was painted white, giving it a foreboding look.

We were attracting a lot of attention, and not all of it was friendly. Ward especially was attracting a lot of glares from the campers. As we reached the porch, Ward turned to look at me nervously.

"Uh, mind your manners around Mr. D. He is definitely not someone you want as an enemy." He looked so serious that I forgot to be grouchy. Who was this Mr. D, and why was Ward so scared of him.

Not wanting to make him more jittery, I agreed to be careful.

We reached the door and Ward, taking a deep breath, opened it and took a step inside. Willow and I looked at each other and followed him.

* * *

The three of us walked into a dingy room with a shabby card table set up. A pudgy old guy with a leopard shirt was playing with a…. no, it couldn't be. I rubbed my eyes and counted to three. Yep. I'm definitely going crazy. How else could you explain the at-least-six-feet-tall monster drinking a coke?

The geezer looked at his cards, sighed, and laid down his cards face-down.

"You're folding? Again? Isn't this the 130th time in a row you've lost?" the creature that looked like a horse from the waist down. Minotaur, no. Harpy, no. What was it called?

"Quiet, centaur. Don't make me turn you into a tree." Ah. Centaur. That's right.

"We have guests." my hallucination said quietly.

The old guy looked around and his eyes zeroed in on Ward. A look of pure hatred distorted his features.

"You," he snarled. "You have the nerve to come in here after all the warnings we gave you?" He rose to his feet and Ward flinched.

"Sir, I-" Ward's explanation was cut off. Mr. D snapped his fingers and thick vines erupted out of nowhere and bound Ward from the waist down.

"I-" Ward tried to talk but Mr. D snapped his fingers and the makeshift rope tightened around his throat.

"What are you doing? He didn't do anything!" Just because I was mad at Ward didn't mean that I was going to let this random guy choke him to death.

I charged toward Mr. D, trying in some way to help Ward. Mr. D turned to look at me and I froze. Instead of eyes, purple and red flames filled his eye sockets. He opened his mouth and I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for him to blast me into smithereens.

_**AN2: Aside from the cheesy opening, I hope you guys enjoy this next installment. Merry Christmas! Sorry for the short chapter.**_


	4. What I do and don't know

**AN****: Thanks for all the reviews! It should have made the news! Ha ha ha the lame puns continue!**

"Sir please! She doesn't know anything!" Willow exclaimed.

I opened my eyes and turned to look at her.

"Excuse me? I know plenty, thank you very much! I'm not the one who failed English because I was too lazy to show up for the exam! Also, you were the one who spent every class giggling with Ward in the back, not me! So don't tell me I don't know anything! I may not know what the flip is happening right now, but I definitely know a thing or two! And in any case-" I was ready to go into an hour-long tirade, sick of all the secrets, when Willow interrupted me.

"Emily, shut up." I've never seen Willow this mad. Not even when her pen exploded during Math class and the teacher made fun of her for two weeks.

"Hold on. She really doesn't know who I am?" Mr. D asked, looking quickly from Willow's face to mine, as if trying to catch a lie between us.

"How on Earth am I supposed to know what's going on when nobody will tell me anything?" I asked, exasperated.

Mr. D narrowed his eyes and sighed.

"Great. I have to fill another one in on what's happening. Well, have a seat. This could take awhile."

I didn't move.

"What about Ward?"

Mr. D glared at me and said impatiently, "He'll stay right where he is until we finish talking. Now, sit. I won't ask you again."

Wanting to stay in one piece, I sat. Willow sat down next to me, obviously relieved nothing worse had happened.

"So, what do you know? About your current situation I mean. Anything at all?" he asked, plainly trying to be patient. He waved his hand over the table and a goblet appeared with a rich, crimson color.

"Remember your restrictions." My hallucination said sharply.

"Surely he won't mind, just this once," Mr. D said as he raised the glass to his lips. All of a sudden, thunder BOOMED outside, making the entire house shake.

"I'm guessing he does mind," Willow said timidly. Mr. D gave her a dirty look and waved his hand over his drink, which immediately turned light green.

"Mountain Dew." he explained in response to our curious looks. "I tried diet Coke for a while but it doesn't have the same zing. Anyway, answer my question."

I took a deep breath and answered.

"I know that you, Willow, Ward, and the centaur aren't human." Mr. D snorted at this but I continued. "I know that we are somewhere in New York. I know that the 'gods'" I used air quotes "are fighting over some serious oath, and I know that this camp was recently attacked."

"Just how much did you and the boy tell her?!?" Mr. D roared at Willow.

She flinched and looked around, as if expecting vines to appear and bind her too, too petrified to answer.

"They barely told me anything! I had a dream about the gods and I saw that a lot of the cabins had been destroyed." I interjected before he could vine her to death. And yes, that is the first time I've ever used that as a verb before.

He took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Well, you have the basic gist of it. A goddess promised to remain childless and she had a kid. You are in Camp Half-Blood, run by a centaur and I. I am Dionysus, lord of the vine and the wine."

The leopard skin looked a lot more impressive when Dionysus was making grape vines spell out his name behind his head. I looked into his eyes (flames?) and saw madness, utter madness. I saw people drinking and brawling. I saw a military commander passing out and getting betrayed by his own men. I looked away, fearing for my sanity.

After a couple of moments I looked at him, only to see him playing cards again. Willow gave me a sympathetic look, but it didn't help. This was too much to take in all at once.

"Who is my Olympian parent?" I asked, focusing on the one thing that was bugging me the most.

"Ahhh. You don't know. This might be a problem. Well, I hate to say it but I can't tell you," Dionysus said, shaking his head. "And by "hate" I mean totally don't care. Doesn't change my day."

"What? But you're a god! Surely you of all people could tell me!" I exclaimed.

"There are laws that even we gods must follow. And one of them is 'No one shall reveal godly parentage to a demigod except the god or mortal involved.' Or something like that."

"That's a ridiculous rule!" I yelled. "What could possibly happen to you if you broke it? You're immortal!"

Mr. D's eyes flashed and he stood up.

"We still feel pain, you unintelligent mortal! We feel the pain just as you feel if you were to break you arm, only we feel it times a million because it takes so much more effort to break us! And the River Styx," thunder boomed outside "always gets her way. So don't ever ask a god to break a promise made on the River." He looked so uber-serious that I couldn't even come up with a witty statement (which doesn't happen a lot).

"And so, all that remains is to figure out what to do with you," Mr. D said, turning to glare at Ward. "Just because you have a powerful father, that doesn't mean you can disobey a direct command from a god."

"Why do you hate him so much?" I asked, unable to resist asking.

"Let me tell you a little story, child. Once upon a time, there was an evil Titan named Kronos. He had the marvelous ability of manipulating time. Sound familiar? Thought so. Anyway, a long time ago he ruled over the gods. He was defeated but then, he tried to rise again. He got really close, but he was thwarted by some young demigods, or half-bloods. His soul fled out, into Tartarus. Or so we thought. It turns out that he had another mortal ready as backup in case someone defeated him. He possessed the mortal and kept getting stronger, keeping hidden, until finally it was too late for us. He regained his immortal form, and chaos broke out everywhere. Legions upon legions of monster attacked Mount Olympus. The Sphinx made a reappearance, followed by Echidna and even the Titan, Atlas. We had been lulled into a false sense of security when, twenty years later, we were ambushed in the middle of the night. We gods never had a chance against the army facing us. The cowards had taken our children hostage, and I'm sorry to say, they got results. The Olympians were bound in chains of celestial bronze and led to Kronos's palace. For months on end we were tortured and tormented. The humans didn't notice a difference, but slow changes were being made to destroy civilization entirely. Then, something incredible happened. Kronos's army rebelled against him. Ally-less and weak, he paid us one last visit. He would agree to return into Tartarus, but only if we wouldn't, how should I put this, 'play with our food'. Also, he requested protection for his son, in exchange for our freedom. All of the gods took the oath, and he unbound us. We immediately destroyed him and regained our territory. Imagine our surprise however, when we heard of a rebellion in Dallas. A hundred people were murdered on the streets. And guess who was leading them? You got it. The slime on the ground in front of me."


	5. Home sweet meh

AN: I hope your house rings with the sound of laughter, as you enjoy this latest chapter.

"**What?" I was flabbergasted. Ward was the son of a Titan? The most evil Titan of all time? And he killed innocent, defenseless people for no reason?**

"**Yep. Oh, were you under the impression that he was a good guy? Well, hate to burst your bubble, but he's not. He's nothing but a monster." Mr. D spat, standing up and walking over to glare at Ward. "Now, should I turn him into a tulip or a daisy? Both are equally girly. Hmmm.." **

"**Ward couldn't have done that! He's a good guy!" I protested, looking at Willow for support. When she looked at the ground instead of speaking up, I knew it was true. Ward is a monster.**

**Without further ado, I stormed out of the house, too confused to talk it out anymore. The bright sunlight hurt my eyes and I was temporarily blinded. Which wasn't a whole lot of fun because I had forgotten about the steps. Nothing says "I'm normal!" like plummeting down 5 stairs onto a startled young man.**

"**I'm so so sorry!" I apologized as I helped him up. "I couldn't see where I was going and I forgot the stairs and-"**

**He cut me off, chuckling. "That's fine. I'm Adonis, son of Aphrodite. And you are?" he inquired with a charming grin. Man, he was yummalicious. He had light blond hair and the deepest blue eyes I had ever seen. But there was something… off about him. Like he knew just how hot he was and wasn't afraid of flaunting it. **

"**Emily Wolf, daughter of ummm Richard Wolf." I noticed his confused look. "I don't know who my Olympian parent is." **

**His friendly grin quickly turned to a grimace of disgust. "Oh. An undecided. Like we don't have enough of those. Hermes cabin. It's the dark brown shack at the end. Look for the people no one wants," he said as he walked away, probably going to count his money or spit on poor people or something.**

"**Some people need to be wiped off the face of the planet," I muttered as I walked down the rows, amazed at the detail that had gone into every inch of them. The first one had a dark cloud hovering over it, with lightening raining down every couple seconds. The entire building had an electric current running through it, like it was just waiting for someone to accidentally bump against it and get tasered. The second one was just as ostentatious. It was light blue, surrounded by a white picket fence. Contained in said fence were about a dozen peacocks. From a distance they looked beautiful, with all of their plumage and bright colors. However, as I walked nearer, I noticed that they were hissing and sending venomous glares at any student who happened to pass by. Those two cabins must be the head cabins or whatever. They were at the top of what looked like a football field. There were 6 cabins on one side and 4 on the other. Strange numbering system. The ones on the left had a more masculine feel to them, while the ones on the right had a distinctive feminine touch. Noticing that the "dark brown shack" was on the left, I followed it, going my merry way. Looking at the intricate designs helped distract me from the fact that my whole world had been turned upside down. My dad was a traveling speaker at various universities, so he wasn't home much. But when he was, he never talked about my mother. I always just assumed that she had left him, but now I wondered if there was a more sinister reason. If my mother was like Adonis's, then I wouldn't want to know.**

**Cabin number 3 was cool, in an ocean kind of way. The cabin was a dark blue and it had animations of sea creatures swimming across the front. At least, I thought they were sea creatures. **

"**They don't show us stuff like this in our Science books," I muttered to myself. One of the animations was sort of like a giant squid, with a beak-like object instead of a mouth. I stood fascinated for about ten minutes before I tore my eyes away from the cabin and looked at the others. Cabin 4 was on the other side of the field, so I skipped it and went onto cabin 5. **

**This cabin was painted a bright red, with a stuffed dragon's head, complete with fangs, guarding the door. Suddenly, I noticed something weird. There weren't any campers around. Not a single one. Maybe they were at dinner or something.**

**Thump. Thump. Thump. I heard a strange noise coming toward me. **

"**Who's there?" I asked, spinning around. Coming towards me was a redheaded girl on crutches. **

"**I'm Amanda. Who are you?" she asked, trying to be friendly. After talking to Adonis, I was kind of surprised to hear anyone being polite.**

"**I'm Emily. I'm new." I said, extending my arm to shake it and then feeling like an idiot. How was she supposed to shake hands with crutches? I withdrew my arm. She must have noticed, but other than a small grin she didn't show it. Immediately, I took a liking to her.**

"**Everyone is out in the woods playing Capture the Flag. I had an incident with a Ares kid, as you can tell by my ankle. So, I have to sit this one out. I noticed that you really seemed to like the cabins."**

"**Oh yeah! These are the coolest cabins ever!" I exclaimed as we walked toward cabin 7. This one seemed like one huge mirror, reflected the sun right into my eyes. I didn't stare at it too long, not exactly wanting to lose my eyesight. **

**Amanda explained a little bit about each of the cabins, using the Greek Gods in present tense, which was pretty weird. **

"**These aren't the original cabins. About 19 years ago, monsters invaded this camp and burned it to the ground. So the designs have become much more impressive," she laughed, looking around.**

"**What cabin do you belong to?" I asked, wondering if it was rude or not. If Adonis had done it so casually, at least I knew it wasn't a deadly insult. **

"**Cabin four, Demeter." for some reason she sounded bummed about it. Before I could ask why, she pointed out cabin 9. This one looked like one huge furnace. Instead of windows, it had flames. Instead of a roof, it had flames. Instead of a door, it had (you've probably guessed it) flames. I was a good 30 feet away but I could still feel the burning heat.**

**Finally we got to cabin 11. It was rundown-looking, with a door that was barely hanging on its hinges. Hanging above the door was a symbol I recognized from my old track shirt. It was a pole with two snakes wrapped around it.**

"**Home sweet home," I muttered.**

**AN2: So, yeah. I took a brief five-month break from this story, but I'm back. It was actually thanks to my latest review that I even restarted typing. I know this chapter isn't very exciting, but it should pick up pretty quickly. Thanks for reading!**


	6. what you knew when you read the intro

**AN: I'm going to try to stop trying to rhyme, after all, it's just wasting your time.**

"Well, this is Cabin 11. Hermes's cabin. This is your home for the foreseeable future. Go ahead, step inside. Make yourself at home."

I took a couple steps into the cabin, and looked back, waiting for her to follow. When she didn't move, I spoke up.

"Are you not coming in with me?"

She shook her head.

"I can't. Sorry. It's against the rules," she said, taking a step away for good measure.

I looked at the cabin, then her. "What happens if you step inside? The world explodes?" I snickered.

She seemed to reconsider. "Well, it can't be that bad." I wheedled, not wanting to go in there alone. "What's the worst that could happen?" As if I wasn't tempting Fate by saying that.

Still hesitant, she took a cautious step towards the cabin. When the world didn't burst into flames, she took another one. This continued on, her going the speed of an abnormally slow turtle, until she reached the doorway. She stuck out her hand, and pulled the door open. I released the breath that had wanted to escape for a while. Amanda visibly relaxed, and crutched into the cabin. I followed her eagerly, excited to finally see the inside of a cabin.

Amanda looked around with a slight smirk on her face. "This isn't nearly as cool as-" she started.

I had a brief glimpse of a messy dorm with stuff everywhere before I heard a thunderous CRACK!

The world spun. I had the feeling of getting sucked up into a vacuum (not that that happens often) and there was a blinding flash of light.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no." I heard Amanda mutter as we were trapped in the light.

"Ouch!" I yelled as we were thrown onto hard ground. My eyes were watering from the impact and I looked around, dazed.

It looked like we were in a huge cathedral, with intricate designs on the walls. I'm sure the design would continue on the ceiling, if they had one. Really, the ceiling was open to the heavens. The stars looked like they were arranged just for this building's viewing pleasure.

I stared at the walls and the stars for a long time before I realized that Amanda had not said a word. Looking down at her, I saw her bowing. Then, for the first time I looked around at my eye level.

Sitting around me in huge thrones were about a dozen of the scariest people I had ever seen. They were all radiating this weird, terrifying power. My knees collapsed, and for some reason, I couldn't get up. One of the men, a tough looking biker with a sword, chuckled.

"Who are you? Name yourself!" One of the men, the most terrifying of them all, commanded quietly, but for some reason it felt like it was resonating through the building.

"I'm Emily Wolf. And you are?" I asked, asking what I always do. Then it hit me. These must be the Olympian Gods everyone was talking about. They held the power of the world in their hands and I had just spoken to them like they were mortals. Speaking of which, how on Earth am I supposed to address these people? Your majesties? My lords? Your Excellencies?

The one who was sitting in the middle of them all smirked and gestured with his hands to look around. "Who do you think we are, mortal?"

I already knew, but I looked around anyway. The Olympians were organized in an horseshoe, with leader in the middle with what looked liked his wife. On his left side, there was a tanned, surfer dude holding a stick with three prongs. Trident?

Next to him was the biker who had laughed earlier at my misfortune. His seat looked like an electric hair, with spikes all over it. Next to him in a solid gold throne was a young teenager, who was rocking out on his iTouch. Oddly, there was an empty chair next to him that was glowing a faint silver. There were patterns running across the back and I had the most bizarre connection to it. Maybe it was the wolves carved into the armrest, ha-ha. Then, next to the empty chair was finally someone I recognized.

"Mr. D?" I gasped, unable to contain myself. What was he doing here?

He gave a slight nod and the barest hint of a smile.

Mentally switching back in gear, I looked at the other side. Next to the leader's lady friend was a woman sitting on a throne of corn. The stalks had actually bent up to form the chair.

Next to the corn lady was a woman with icy gray eyes. It looked like she was reading a book, but every now and then I would see her eyes flick up to take in what was happening.

A huge man with muscles the size of a truck sat next to the reader. He had a hammer laying across his lap, but one of his hands was busy holding hands with the lady in pink. Her throne was right next to his, and it was the most sickening thing I had ever seen. It looked like cupid had thrown up hearts and rainbows and she decided to sit in it. To her right was a man clearly not very interested in what was happening. He was wearing an awesome black and red track suit, and he was leaning back in his chair, which was more of an armchair.

"I think you are the 12 Olympians, sir." I said, finally answering the question.

The man smiled and nodded.

"That would be correct. I am Zeus, Master of the Sky. This is my wife Hera and that is Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, umm, I believe you've met Dionysus?" I nodded, noticing that he had stumbled over the empty throne.

"On my wife's other side you see Demeter, Athena, then Hephaestus and Aphrodite. And lastly, but certainly not least, you have Hermes. Together, we are the Twelve Olympians." The room shook every time he said a name. One thing was bugging me.

"Lord Zeus, is there someone missing? I only counted 11 gods and goddesses." I asked, trying to find the answers to little things so that the main picture might actually make sense.

"We have had a slight, problem within our ranks. That is the real reason we have called you to Mount Olympus. We don't really care about a little rule being broken. Now that I mention it," he paused and snapped his fingers. Amanda disappeared.

"She's back at the camp," he explained, noticing my horrified look. "Anyway, you are the cause of all the troubles the we have been experiencing. Well, actually, its not all your fault. Most of the blame falls on your mother."

"Who is she?" I asked, hoping that I would finally learn where half of me came from.

"It's Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt." As he said that, I heard a popping sound and a young woman walked in, wearing silvery camo and sweet cargo pants.

"Did you need me Father?" she asked, ignoring the rest of the room. "I was under the impression that I was banned from Olympus until-" For some strange reason, I could not stop looking at her. This was my mother?

As if she had sensed my look, she turned to look at me.

"Mom?" I whispered, taking a step towards her.

**AN2: Well, I think I'm keeping up pretty well. I'm loving the reviews and please keep them up. By the way, the reason the throne room isn't the same is because Annabeth already redesigned it. She's a speedy one, haha. Any questions?**


	7. Mmmm tastes like rabbit Oh wait

**AN: I know I said that the lame puns would end, but I'm doing this for a friend.**

**WARNING: Some violence ahead.**

"Mom?" I repeated, not sure if she had heard me. Why wasn't she responding?

Artemis looked at me for another second, and then she turned to Zeus.

"Is this the reason you called me? You already know my views on the matter. That is no daughter of mine. As far as I'm concerned, it is nothing more than a blight on our society." she said. I could actually feel my insides shriveling. 'That'? 'It'? 'Blight on society'? Why was she saying these terrible things? I haven't done anything to her!

"Perhaps you two need sometime alone." Zeus said, snapping his fingers. Immediately, the other ten gods and goddess disappeared.

"Now, daughter, you are welcomed back on Olympus, if, and only if you can integrate your daughter into society. I can't have her starting wars or anything. By the way, the trial will happen later this week." he said as he began to walk out the door.

"But Father, I-" Artemis argued, looking from me to him in frustration.

"That is my final decision." Thunder rumbled in the background as he spoke his final command. "Don't kill her."

He walked out and the door slammed, leaving Artemis and I in an awkward silence.

"So, how did you meet my-" I tried to start conversation, but her deathly glare silenced me.

"Stop. You do not talk to me. I order you and you follow my commands. If you don't, I'm sure I can find a way around my father's command. And by that, I mean I'll find a way to kill you," she said, iciness dripping from every syllable.

I stared at her, dumbfounded. How dare she come in here and try to treat me like that?

She started pacing back and forth, muttering to herself, in a language that certainly wasn't English.

Finally, I worked up the courage to confront her.

"What is your problem? I haven't done anything to you! It's not my fault the other gods and goddesses don't like you! But from what I've seen, I don't really blame them. If you treat them like garbage too then it's a wonder you ever found someone as nice as my dad!" I yelled, turning around and walking towards the door.

I almost got away with it too.

Artemis shouted something, and suddenly I couldn't move. This weird green light engulfed me, and I rose into the air. It felt like all the cells in my body were being torn apart. A red haze covered my mind, and I couldn't focus on anything but the pain. Finally, after what seemed like a century, the pain stopped. Something had changed. My breathing felt different somehow, like my heart was beating faster.

I opened my eyes and screamed. Everything was different. My eyesight spread in all four directions and the colors were different, with reds and blues more prominent. My new vantage point was on the ground, so I thought that I had fallen down. Imagine my surprise when I found that I was standing.

I turned to look at Artemis. This was her fault. She had done this to me. She had transformed me into a small woodland creature and she didn't seem to care about my terror. I could hear her breathing, and feel the vibrations of the ground as she walked.

Suddenly, extreme panic gripped me and wouldn't let me go. So, I did the natural thing. I fled like a coward. My running was all messed up, and it was more of a stumbling over my feet than a real run. I make a terrible rabbit.

Suddenly, I froze. Standing right in front of me with a sliver bow in her hands was Artemis. The bow was leveled straight at my head and I had no doubt that she could hit any target she wanted. Including me. My terrified little rabbit heart was beating extra fast and my blood was pounding in my ears.

"Maybe you aren't an idiot after all. Yes, this is a bow, and this is an arrow that will tear into your body and cut through all of your major organs." she said, smirking.

"You can't kill me," I squeaked out, surprised my voice worked at all. Or maybe she can speak bunny language.

Her grin quickly turned into a threatening leer. "That's true. He never said anything about maiming. And I believe I told you not to speak to me."

Faster than my eyes could follow, she drew the arrow back, and released it. My pain from the transformation was nothing compared to this. It felt like my leg was on fire! Somehow she had managed to hit my back leg, so I couldn't get it out, or even move at all. I was howling in pain and the empty rooms echoed my pain back to me.

For several minutes we sat there, me writhing in agony, and her watching cold-heartedly.

`Artemis muttered something under her breath and I felt the arrow being jerked out of my leg. She pulled another arrow from her quiver (which had mysteriously appeared) and aimed her bow at me once more. My leg was bleeding profusely and the throbbing pain almost made me cry. _Not even a bullet couldn't hurt this bad_, I thought as I tried to walk. Not only could I not extend it, but just trying made me fall over in a heap of terrified, bleeding rabbit.

"Have you learned your lesson, or do you need another demonstration?" she asked, mock politeness in her voice. I have to admit, I was quaking in fear. My leg felt like it was burning and I knew that she wouldn't hesitate to hurt me again.

When I didn't say anything sassy, she nodded and snapped her fingers.

Again, a weird light issued from her fingers and wrapped around me. Again, my terrified rabbit form rose into the air. Again, my cells felt like they were trying to kill themselves. Again, the agony overcame my mind, so that all I could think about is how I wanted to die. Anything to stop the burning.

Finally, I was thrown back to the ground. I had been hoping that my leg would be healed, but no such luck. Right below my knee was a bloody splotch that showed through my jeans. There was no way that Zeus or one of the other Olympians wouldn't notice that I was hurt. Then Artemis would be kicked out of Olympus and I would feel free to return to camp. Of course that would mean that I would have to think about Ward-the-murdering-scumbag and Adonis-the-prat. Anything would be better than sitting here with Mrs. Psychopath. I slowly got to my feet, barely able to keep any pressure on it.

"When you get to camp it will be pretty late. You will go straight to the cabin dedicated to me. You will only go outside at nighttime and you will not speak to other demigods. At all. You will be isolated. However, that's your problem, not mine. And if I find you disobeying me, you'll wish you were dead." Artemis said, walking up to me and grabbing my arm. I could feel my arm bruising under her punishing grip.

"Okay_, mom_" I said, placing extra emphasis on the mom part.

Her eyes flashed dangerously and she started to blur around the edges. Seriously. It was like someone was zooming out but no one was moving.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and Hermes ran into the room, standing between Artemis and I.

"No no no! Zeus said no killing! Do you want to be sent down to Earth as a human again?" he said urgently. I realized that he was protecting me from something weird. Maybe something terrible happened when she blurred. I shall now refer to it as "The Blurring of Doom".

She managed to calm down, and glared at me. Then, she suddenly disappeared.

Hermes let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew. That was close. So, how bad are you hurt? Any broken bones?" he asked, looking concerned. I just shrugged, not sure what to say. Now that there was actually a possibility of her getting in trouble, my loyalty kicked in. Unfortunately, Hermes noticed my knee.

"Apollo! Get in here!" he yelled.

The teenager from the golden throne walked in, his earphones around his neck.

"What's up, Herms?" he asked, using a lame nickname. Hermes gestured to my knee but Apollo didn't look surprised. "Did my sis shoot you? She has this nasty habit of doing that to people. Well, let me see your leg," he said. I noticed that he got very professional all of a sudden. His headphones even turned into a stethoscope.

Realizing that no one really cared if you hurt demigods, I reluctantly pushed out my leg. He crouched down and rolled up my pants leg. I winced. The wound was open and still bleeding. I could actually see part of the bone. The thought of that almost made me throw up. Apollo muttered something and waved his hand slowly over my leg. Immediately, the hole closed up and the pain stopped.

"Feel better?" he asked, leaning back on his heels.

"Yeah! I feel way better! Thank you… ummm… Lord Apollo and Lord Hermes." I said awkwardly, still not sure how I should address them.

"You can call me Apollo," the doctor interjected.

"And you can call me Hermes," said the jogger.

"Okay, Apollo, Hermes, I have a couple questions. First of all, why does Artemis hate me so much?" I asked, looking at their faces. Both of them winced and look away. We sat in silence for several minutes before Apollo sigh and spoke up.

"Well, it's a long story. I'll start at the beginning. When Artemis and I were born (we're twins you see), Zeus granted us powers. Artemis became the Goddess of the Hunt, and I got all the cool titles. Anyway, when she was still really little, my dad granted her a couple wishes. One of them was that she could remain single and childless her entire life. Zeus granted her that wish, but he also said that she could retract it anytime she wanted. For thousands of years, she kept to it. She even inspired Athena and Hestia to follow it too. Together, they were the three maiden goddesses. Now, since she had you, they have turned against her. They even convinced Zeus to kick her off Olympus. She is having a big trial in a couple days to decide what her final punishment will be. So, you pretty much ruined her life. Her followers aren't too happy either. And I heard her command about not talking to demigods. I think you know someone who isn't a demiGOD. Just saying. In any case, you should be getting back. And I heard she placed some wards on your cabin. I'm really sorry but there's nothing I can do. Hermes, if you could.." he stood up and Hermes grabbed my arm, not nearly as hard as Artemis had.

"Bye. Actually, you are my first niece. It was fun meeting you." Apollo said, chuckling.

Hermes snapped and I had the sensation of going through a vacuum again (this was becoming a nasty habit of mine).

"Well, here you are. Try not to get into trouble." he said as he disappeared on his own.

I was stuck in camp alone, with an express command not to talk to anyone. Yay me.

**AN2: Well, this is going to be my last update for a couple days, so I tried to make it a little longer than normal. Thanks to all the reviewers and please feel free to send me your input. I'm in a bet with a friend over reviews, so any help is much appreciated. Thanks, and God bless!**


	8. My first night of freedom yeah right

**AN: Yes! I'm winning the bet! This probably won't be the best chapter yet!**

Previously on: Hahahaha jk

As I looked around, I noticed that I was right in front of the shining silver cabin that was glowing brilliantly in the light from the moon. It must be pretty late at night. I had walked around the other side before, so this was the first time I was seeing it. It was silver with designs of different animals spiraling around. The current image was a herd of gazelles pronking around playfully. Suddenly, I looked at it, a rabbit appeared. I jumped.

'Okay mom. I got the message,' I thought as I rolled my eyes. Walking in wasn't so bad, but I kept expecting to find a bloody arrow or something as a threat. All I found was a comforting room with 7 sets of bunk beds and a nice warm fireplace with a stuffed deer hanging over it. For some reason, the fire was going. That has to be breaking some sort of fire code or whatever. Then again, if they wanted to, the Olympian Gods could probably set the fire station on fire easily. So, yeah. Its probably better to not mess with them. Unless their name is Artemis, of course.

I looked around and found my backpack by the door. Which was really odd because I don't remember ever packing a bag. I opened it up and looked inside. The contents were: 3 pairs of jeans, 2 blue jean shorts, 4 t-shirts, 1 pair of cargo pants and pajamas and undergarments (I'm not really going to go into details there).

I placed my clothes in the wardrobe that suddenly appeared. It's probably a bad thing that I'm getting used to it.

Finally, after a quick shower and changing into my pj's I was ready to go to bed.

My dreams were somewhat normal, but they seemed to involve more rabbits than usual. And terror. And, yes, the two will now always be related.

The next morning, I woke up in a panic.

"Where the flip am I?" I garbled, looking around in a daze. Suddenly, it hit me. I was in a camp for children of the Greek gods who were apparently real and most of them, including my own mother who I hadn't known for my entire life, hated me. So, good fun. Oh, and my friend was a murdering psychopath who was the son of an evil Titan who tried to destroy the world. Fun times.

I got up and washed my face in the sink. As I looked at the refection, I felt like I was getting ripped off. Here I was, life being changed, and I don't even have a scar or anything to prove it. All of a sudden, it hit me. My knee! My oh-so-considerate mother must have left a scratch or something. I pulled my pants' leg up and looked at my knee. Nothing. Stupid god of healing.

I got dressed and got ready to go outside. As soon as I touched to doorknob, shooting pain shot up my arm. It was just like being transformed into a rabbit, only with less carrot-love happening.

I must have blacked out, because next thing I remember was being on the ground. The sunlight was streaming through the windows, taunting me with its marvelous rays. Maybe I just imagined it, I thought as I got up. Nervous, I touched the doorknob again. Again, shooting pain shot up my arm and made it impossible to stay standing.

I got to my feet again, suddenly anxious to get out of here and prove that Artemis didn't have complete control over me. I tried to open a window, but they were welded shut. Suddenly, I recognized this cabin for what it truly was. A cage.

I walked around the room, looking for another exit. Of course there wasn't one. Feeling defeated, I flopped down on my bed. This just bites.

I checked the clock. 12:07. Only about 8 hours until sundown, when hopefully my demonic mother would let me out. The fire had gone out, so I couldn't try burning anything down (not that I was planning to wink wink).

Most of the day I spent day dreaming, trying to ignore the rumbling in my stomach, but mostly coming up with a long list of unpleasant names to call Artemis later (I didn't really consider her my mom at this point. More like my captor).

I fell into a deep sleep and was woken up by someone shaking my shoulder. Thinking it was Artemis, I rolled off the other side, expecting another transformation or something. Imagine my shock when I realized it was Willow, holding a tray of food.

I jumped up and ran over to hug her, almost tearing up with joy. Another person to talk to and food. What more could a person need?

"Here. You must be famished," Willow said, handing me the tray as she sat down on the bed opposite the one I had just vacated. I sat down and eagerly gulped down the food.

"So, what happened?" she asked as I looked at my tray, saddened at its emptiness.

I told her the complete story, even the transformation and my attempts to go outside.

"We knew something big had happened with you because Amanda told us that you two were brought to Olympus. And, this morning, Mr. D warned us to stay away from the Artemis cabin unless we wanted to, and I quote, "face the wrath of an angry goddess." Naturally, a couple of the braver ones tried to open the cabin's door. Three of them are in the hospital wing and the fourth has a pair of antlers. Finally, a couple minutes ago, Mr. D walked up to me and told me to bring you some food and to tell you that you were allowed outside. Man, that rough about the bans. She must be really confused, your mom I mean."

I grunted noncommittally, not really wanting to talk about my mom. Willow stood up and motioned for me to go outside. When I was reluctant to touch the handle, she frowned sympathetically and opened it for me.

The cool night air felt wonderful against my still sleepy face. The moonlight seemed to give me a rush of energy and I sighed happily. Then, I took off running.

'Just get past the borders' I thought to myself as I took long, powerful strides. I heard Willow yell something, but I was too far away to hear exactly what. See, the way I figured, as long I was in camp, the gods would have complete control of my life. As soon as I left the property, I would be free to go back home. The long run felt wonderful after a long day cooped up in that tiny room. I passed the other cabins, coming back the way I remembered from my earlier entrance. Finally, I got nearer to one of the hills I had mistaken for mountains yesterday. Everything was going great and I was looking forward to the long walk back towards civilization and normalcy.

BAM! I collapsed. It felt like I had run into a brick wall. I jumped to my feet and felt the spot where I had collided. Sure enough, there was an invisible wall around what I assume were the camp's borders.

"Very nice mom!" I shouted up at the sky.

Suddenly, I heard a twanging sound and I ducked just in time to see an arrow fly an inch over my head and lodge itself into the invisible wall. Of course, since the wall was invisible, it looked like the arrow was hanging in midair, but I got the message. No trying to escape.

I walked back to where I had left Willow, next to Artemis's cabin. She was sitting on the steps and I sat next to her, slightly sweaty from my run.

"Tried to run away?" she guessed, still looking at the stars.

"Yep," I said, rubbing my nose where it hurt after the collision with the invisiwall.

"Run into the wall?"

"Yep."

She sighed and turned to looked at me.

"Sorry, I probably should have warned you about those. Mr. D mentioned something about them. Apparently everyone can pass through them except you. I know it's dumb, but the Olympians don't want you escaping before the trial.

"That's just fantastic," I muttered as I got to my feet wearily. I started to walk away and Willow got up and followed me. We talked about what was new in camp until I noticed that we were in front of a huge, beautiful lake. The moonlight reflected off of it, making the entire thing look like a gigantic mirror. Willow and I laid down on the soft green grass. I think I may have weirded her out when I kept smelling the wind, but I couldn't help it. It smelled like freedom and happiness and other abstract nouns.

"Hey Emily," I heard a familiar voice say as they walked up behind me.

"Ward?" I asked, getting to my feet warily. He looked pretty much the same, and there was not even a trace of floweriness about him. He seemed tired though, and I noticed that he walked with a slight limp.

"Listen, Emily, we have to talk. I can explain-"

"No. we don't have to talk. Did you or did you not lead a raid that killed dozens of innocent people?" I asked waspishly.

He sighed and slumped down. "I did."

"That's all I need to know," I said as I walked off, back towards the hills I had tried to escape through. The wall was till there and as sturdy as ever. The arrow was gone however. After what must have been hours of walking, the sun began to rise. I remembered Artemis's command about only being out at night, and I was kinda interested to see how she would enforce it. Maybe a flock of birds or something would come and sweep me to the cabin. I sat on the ground, watching the sunrise. As soon as the sun was fully risen, I felt a jerk in my navel (stomach) and was pulled to my feet. Before I could react, the scenery changed. I was back in my cabin, or really, my jail. I collapsed on my bed, exhausted. Testing your limits can really tire a girl out. As I sunk into a fitful slumber, I wondered what tomorrow might hold.

"Hopefully not rabbits," I muttered to no one in particular.

**AN2: So yeah. Thank you for all the reviews and just a little warning. The next chapter is going to move kinda fast, because I'm anxious to get to the interesting parts. I'll update in a couple days, or sooner if my social life continues to be as bleak as it is now. Just kidding. I have friends. Sometimes. Anyway, keep reviewing. Also, yes pronking is a real word!**


	9. the trial

**AN: The reviews made me feel really great, I hope I get another eight!**

"Emily? Wake up!" I heard someone say as they shook my shoulder. Knowing that it was just Willow, I turned over and covered my head with a pillow. 'Day three,' I thought to myself.

My two days had followed a basic pattern. I would sleep during the day and Willow would come wake me up from my slumber with a delightful meal. Then, we would talk for a couple minutes about what was new in camp. Then, she would open the door and I would bolt out. I had tried opening the door by myself, but I got the electric shock. As soon as the door was open, I would bolt out to the camp's borders. Every day, I was hoping that the god's had forgotten to lay the invisiwall. Every day, I was met with a solid wall and disappointment. Ward had kept his distance, so there were no problems there.

"Emily! Get up right this instant!"

"Ugghh! Since when are you my boss?" I grumbled. Suddenly, it hit me. Willow was never this bossy.

"Since when? Since now! Get out of your bed before I turn you into a squirrel!"

Oh my unicorn, it's Artemis!

"Ahhh!" I yelled as I rolled of the bed on the other side. It was like my worst nightmare was coming true. I was alone with someone who enjoyed causing me harm. Trying to get up, I stumbled and tripped. All in all, not the smoothest I've ever been.

When I finally got right side up, I expected to see Artemis aiming a bow at me or something. Instead, I saw her leaning against the doorway with a disgusted look on her face.

"How on Earth can you possibly be my daughter?" she asked, shaking her head slightly.

I ignored the insult and asked, "What are you doing here mo- umm Lady Artemis?" I recovered just in time.

"I thought we could, umm, talk. About things.." she trailed off, clearly uncomfortable.

When I clearly didn't believe her, she rolled her eyes.

"Fine. The big trial's today, and they sent me here to wait. They should send Hermes any time now. They'll probably want you to come, so I thought I should warn you. I'm guessing that popping into Olympus while half-asleep isn't on the top of your 'Want to do list'. So, get ready. I can't have you embarrassing me." she said, actually sounding like a caring person. Where was this coming from?

"Ummm okay. Thanks." I said, starting to get ready. She left the cabin and I changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I put my hair back into a messy ponytail and walked outside. Artemis was in the clearing, gazing at the stars. She was just looking up, looking almost… vulnerable.

From my talks with Willow, I had learned a little more about Artemis. I wanted to ask her what made her break her vow, but I wasn't 100% certain that she still wouldn't turn me into a raccoon or something.

"Do you like looking at the stars, Emily?" she asked, not looking down at me.

I walked over next to her and looked up. The stars were shining brightly and I could see all the constellations. It was a really breathtaking sight.

I opened my mouth to answer, but a sudden appearance of a god cut me off.

It was Hermes, wearing a fancy tuxedo with a green tie. He looked nervous, and for the first time I noticed that he was carrying a stick with a snake wrapped around it. Being understandably terrified of snakes, I took a step back.

"They won't hurt you," Hermes said, smiling comfortingly at me. His current form was about 8 feet tall, so I had to crane to see his face. He turned to Artemis and said, "It's time. We'll meet you there."

Artemis nodded, smiled at me, and disappeared. I enjoyed it, even though I knew it wouldn't last. As soon as the stress of the trial was over, she would go back to treating me like slime. Oh well.

"So, are you ready?" Hermes asked politely.

"As ready as a mortal who is going to Olympus to be on trial can be," I said with a grin.

Hermes chuckled and held out his arm. I reached for it, and time stopped.

What? This seemed really familiar…

"Umm… they are waiting for us. We kinda have to hurry." Hermes said, gesturing impatiently. To him it must have looked like I was just being difficult, but I really couldn't move.

'Curse you Ward!' I thought as I saw him step out from behind the cabin.

"She can't move sir. I've stopped time." Ward said politely, smiling apologetically at me.

A dark look crossed over Hermes face and he glared at Ward. He grabbed my arm and said, "And what exactly is preventing me from just disappearing and taking her with me?"

"Oh, you can feel free to leave, sir. However, she can't." Ward said without a hint of arrogance. "She's trapped in this time. However, I am willing to negotiate…"

"What do you want?" Hermes asked through clenched teeth. I noticed him checking his watch anxiously. We were probably already running late to the trial.

"I heard that there was going to be a trial. I want to be Emily's legal representation." he stated calmly, but with determination.

There was a moment of silence.

"What? Why would you want that? As soon as we got to Olympus, Zeus will blast you out of the sky." Hermes said. I was wondering the same thing. What's his angle?

"That's why I was hoping that you would swear on the River Styx for my safety. Otherwise, I can keep her here all night. The trial can wait." Ward said. I knew he was bluffing. Earlier he had told me that it takes up too much area.

Hermes checked his watch again. He mumbled something in foreign and sighed.

"Fine. I swear on the River Styx that I will take you to Olympus and not let harm come to you. Now release her!" Hermes said. Thunder rumbled in the background, so I guess a storm was coming. The sky was pretty clear though.

Feeling rushed back into my limbs and I found that I could move again. I stretched and gave Ward a dirty look. Hermes snapped his fingers and the vacuum feeling returned. This time, it was kinda fun and I noticed that if I looked up I could see lights blurring past us (not the Blurring of Doom, mind you).

Finally, we hit the floor. Ward and Hermes landed lightly, but I fell onto my knees.

The room had been transformed into a giant courtroom. Zeus was in the judges seat, and the other 10 Olympians were sitting in the jury's box. Artemis was sitting in the box to Zeus's left, and the box to the right was empty.

"You're late." Zeus's voice rang through the room. The other Olympians had been talking among themselves but they fell silent.

"I'm sorry, Lord Zeus. We had an issue back at camp." Hermes said, rushing to the jury's box and taking a seat.

"See me afterwards." Even I could hear the threat in Zeus's voice. "And you, son of Kronos, what are you doing on Mount Olympus?"

Ward gulped nervously and replied, "I'm her legal representation, my Lord."

There was silence for a second, and then Zeus burst into laughter. Everyone in the jury's box followed, with the exception of Hermes and Apollo. Artemis was sitting there nervously, and I could see that she was anxious to get this started. She was chewing on her lip like I always do when I'm nervous.

Finally, the laughter died down.

"Legal representation? Really? The son of my worst enemy defending a demigod who's on trial? Interesting. Well, we should get started. Athena, you may take the stand. Emily, you and the son of Kronos just sit down."

Chairs appeared behind us and we sat down as Athena began her case. I noticed that Ward turned pale when she stepped into the box to Zeus's right.

"My fellow Olympians, we are brought here today by a simple case. A certain goddess made a very serious oath, and then she broke it. Artemis, daughter of Leto," I noticed that she didn't say Zeus as well. "vowed to remain chaste. She was the first, but not the last. She inspired Hestia and I to follow her example, and together we were the Three Maiden Goddesses. Hestia and I have both given up much, and for what? For her to run off at the first opportunity and fraternize with some random mortal? Surely you, my family, understand that allowing her to roam around unchallenged, practically showing her spawn off, is a disgrace to everything we have stood for? When vows mean nothing, then Olympus will crumble. And this is where it begins." Athena walked briskly back to her seat and sat down, carefully watching Zeus.

I was stunned. With that argument, I was almost on her side. But when I remembered that her side winning would result in my death, I quickly nudged Ward.

"If I may speak Your Highness?" Ward said as he stood up and walked over to the bench.

Zeus nodded, and Ward addressed the Olympians.

"Your majesties, Lady Athena made many excellent points. However, I believe she chose to disregard many things that she knew would torpedo her case. When Artemis was little, I believe she ASKED Zeus to remain childless. She did it of her own free will, no one forced her to. And when Zeus granted her request, he made it so that she would be able to retract it at any moment. So, when Artemis had Emily, she wasn't breaking any promise. So most of the Olympians have nothing to complain about. The only ones who should be unhappy are Hestia and Athena. But really, how mad can Athena be? She has promised to not marry, or anything like that, but she has not remained barren. By labeling her children 'brain children' she has been able to enjoy having kids, while still remaining one of the Maiden goddesses. And since Hestia isn't a member of the Twelve Olympians, and this is an Olympian court, then this case has no relevance. Athena is, respectfully, using your valuable time for matters of her own personal revenge. What you need to decide is, are you willing to punish an innocent goddess for no reason?" Ward left off, looking at each Olympian in turn, ending with Zeus.

Several minutes passed, and the Olympians debated while Ward walked back to the chairs and sat down. His breath was coming in sharp gasps.

I heard him mutter something like "Oh my goodness I challenged Athena. She's gonna kill me." over and over again until finally Zeus cleared his throat.

"Artemis, will you like to add anything to your defense?"

"N-no, my lord." she stuttered and looked at the ground. Maybe that's where I get my nervous stutter from.

"Well then, jury, have you made your decision?" Zeus asked, looking at them.

The corny one, Demeter, stood up.

"We have, Your Honor."

"What say you?"

"After considering both sides of the argument, we have decided that the defendant is not guilty."

I exhaled loudly and I noticed that Artemis was extremely relieved. Maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't hate me so much.

"However, we do not believe she should be returned to her former right, for a period of four months. She will retain all of her powers, but she will not be able to vote or do other Olympian duties. That is because her daughter has disgraced this court by bringing in a known enemy. So say us."

My grin froze and I turned to look at Artemis. She was glaring at me with such hatred, I could actually feel my insides dying. After all this, she still hates me.

Zeus sighed and nodded.

"Then so it shall be." Thunder crashed around the room and I took it as a sign that the trial was over.

**AN2: Sorry for the rushed feel of it, but I love moving fast (not running of course) and I'm anxious to get to the more exciting parts. I'll update at 51 reviews, so click that button! Also, check out my friend Turtlefoot's stories. She is under my favorite authors. But if you decide to review from my recommendation, mention the number 66 in your review. We have a small bet going on, so thanks!**


	10. I lose some rights but find a passion

**AN: After getting review number 51, my smile was as bright as the sun! Warning, there may be a bit of romance, but I decided to take a chance.**

Over the next 5 minutes or so, the gods and goddesses filed out, still debating the case. Athena walked out first, but I saw her give Artemis a dirty look as she walked out.

Eventually, only Artemis, Zeus, Apollo, and Hermes were left.

"Hermes, come with me." Zeus commanded as he walked out. Reluctantly, Hermes followed him.

As soon as Hermes was out of the room, Apollo rushed over to Artemis and gave her a hug.

"I'm so sorry, sis. The best we could do is let you still use your powers. It's all Athena's fault. She reminded us of Ward and really played on the whole son-of-Kronos thing. I have to go now, but I'll IM you later. Bye!" he rushed out the door, pulling out a key ring. I heard a faint beep-beep in the background, and then he was gone.

Which left me with a very angry goddess and a useless demititan.

"Why on earth," she got up and before I knew what was happening, she was right in front of me, her arms on my chair's armrests, blocking my escape route. "did you bring a known enemy to my trial?" She yelled the last word and the building shook. I had never seen anyone this mad. She wasn't "Blurring of Doom" mad, she was "I'm going to rip your face off" mad.

For second, words failed me. Terror was flooding through me like a herd of rabbits. Then, Ward did the first un-scummy thing in his life and jumped to my defense.

"She didn't, My Lady. I sort of kidnapped her and wouldn't let her go unless Hermes let me come. As far as she's concerned, I'm dirt." There was a lot of hurt in his voice, and I turned to look at him. All this time I was mad at him for something, and I didn't even give him a chance to defend himself or explain why he did it. I made a silent resolution to have a long conversation with him later. Smiling, I turned back to Artemis, who was purple with fury. That wiped the smile off of my face really quickly.

She took a deep breath. I could almost hear her conscience begging her not to curse us.

Ward glanced at me and smiled nervously, making him look adorable. Oh my goodness, I don't hate him anymore. I returned his smile and yet again turned to look at Artemis. Suddenly, she snapped and Ward disappeared.

"Where did you take him?" I yelled, forgetting to be terrified. Funny how my terror returned when she snapped again. Ropes appeared around me and tied me to the chair. I tried to struggle, but the look in her eyes convinced me to stop moving. It was like being cornered by a large animal. For the first time, I noticed her eyes. They were a shocking silver, and they seemed to glow with insanity (which was not a comforting thought).

"You will not flirt with someone in my presence!" she said, enunciating each word clearly. "You will not talk to, communicate with, or even look at him without severe consequences. I can make you experience more pain than you've ever felt before. I can change you into a gazelle and drop you in a lion's den. If he comes within 50 feet of you, I'll know. I can not have you gallivanting with every random boy you see."

"Pretty high talk for someone who broke her vow with some 'random' mortal." The words had just slipped out, and now I was going to pay the price. She started blurring, and I shut my eyes. I felt a shockwave pass through the room, and my chair tipped over. Instinctively, I knew that she was in her true form or whatever. I also knew that if I moved a single muscle, I would be in a world of pain.

"Okay, first of all, I don't even remember breaking the oath! All I remember is waking up sometime later and knowing that you were my daughter!" she burst out, unable to contain herself.

"Wait," I said, wishing I could look at her. "what? Memory loss? Is that common in a goddess?"

"No! That's the problem! I have no idea what happened, and now I am disgraced." she sighed. "I'm sorry. I've taken out all my anger on you. I know you don't deserve it, but anything is better than blaming myself." she snapped again and the ropes disappeared.

With my eyes still closed, I got up and rubbed my aching wrists. Those ropes had left dents in my arms!

I wanted to go hug her, but I had the vague suspicion that she was just having a moment of weakness. Choosing to exploit it would most likely involve a transformation of some kind.

I felt a sudden cold in the air.

"You can open your eyes now." her brisk, businesslike tone had returned and I knew our special moment was over. Still wary, I kept my eyes closed.

"Open them. Now." Ah, there is was. The commanding tone again. I actually preferred Artemis when she was like this, because it was less confusing. She was cruel to me, so I could hate her. It's as simple as that.

I opened my eyes and, sure enough, there she was, decked out completely in silver camouflage.

"I'm going on a hunt to clear my mind. Stay away from Ward, or suffer the consequences. If I have to come back early from my hunt to deal with you, I'll make you wish you had never been born." she said, straightening her outfit and checking her weapons.

I almost said, "Well, you gave birth to me", but a quick look at her hunting knife convinced me to stay silent. Silence seemed like the best way to deal with the Olympians.

"Oh, and Emily?" she continued casually.

Certain that we were about to have a touching mother-daughter moment, I replied hopefully, "Yes?"

"The same rules apply from last time. No interactions with other demigods or demititan." my heart plummeted, but before I could protest, she had snapped her fingers and once again I was transported through space.

After a couple seconds of disorientating darkness, I found myself back in my cabin. It was still dark out, so I rushed to the door.

The familiar shock greeted me, and I knew I was back home.

"What a fun night." I said as I changed into my pajamas and laid down. Physically and mentally exhausted, I quickly fell into a deep slumber, and no, I didn't have any prophetic dreams.

The next couple of weeks passed as a blur, with individual memories standing out.

_My first interaction with Ward_: This was the night after the trial, and I was sitting by the lake, just thinking. I heard someone walking up behind me and I turned. Standing there, in a dark blue t-shirt and jeans, was Ward. He sat down next to me and we enjoyed several comfortable moments of silence.

Then it all went downhill from there.

"How did it go with your mom?" he asked, looking at me.

"It went-" Suddenly, pain ripped through my body. Apparently Artemis was serious. It felt like a million icy needles were being driven into my heart, and I curled up in the fetal position without consciously deciding to do so. After several moments of excruciating pain, it stopped and I was left gasping on the cool green grass.

"Di Immortales! I need to get you to Mr. D!" Ward said, attempting to pick me up.

I fought him off, remembering Artemis's warning about disturbing her hunt.

Before he could react or freeze time, I sprinted to my cabin and slammed the door shut.

_My first threat from Artemis_: Unsurprisingly, this happened the same night as I talked to Ward. Severely shaken, I had pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in, but when I pulled back my blanket, imagine my surprise when I found a stuffed rabbit with a silver arrow through its back leg. I was pretty sure I knew who had left this. I set it on my nightstand, but when I woke up the next morning, it was gone.

_My first shot with a bow and arrow_: I had been excited for this, anxious to prove that I really was Artemis's daughter. As soon and the bow was placed into my hands, I knew. Without even needing Willow's help, I effortlessly drew back the arrow and shot it. It was less than two inches away from the center. I tried again, with the same result. Attempts 3,4,5,6, and 7 didn't go so well either. I was so caught up in my archery that I didn't even notice Willow leave. Finally, being pulled back to my room alerted me that a bunch of time had passed. Unfortunately, the bow wasn't taken with me, so I couldn't practice. I paced angrily for hours, cursing (not for the first time) my confinement in this tiny cabin.

_My first gift from Artemis: After a couple of days of shooting with the camp's bow, I did something had never done before. I prayed to my mom, asking for a bow. Not wanting to seem too desperate, I continued shooting with the bow I was using. When I was pulled back to my cabin, I would the most beautiful thing laying on my bed. It was a glowing silver bow with ornate wolves carved around it. Next to it was a quiver with silver arrows. I spent the entire day practicing with them. The bow felt perfect in my hands, like I had been missing something and I didn't even know it. I aimed at one of the many mounted animals (this one a bear) and sure enough, my aim was only a centimeter off. I resolves to ask Artemis about it next time I saw her._

_It was with this bow that I was practicing. Many weeks had passed, but my obsession with archery had not diminished in the slightest. I had just drawn and arrow and was aiming it, when I heard a voice behind me._

"_Yep. You are definitely the one." _

_Pain erupted behind my head and I blacked out, not before seeing someone dressed in silver camouflage. _

"_Artemis?" I whispered, before I let the darkness overcome me._

_AN2: Wow guys! Thank you so much for all the reviews! Please feel free to check out my other stories and even Turtlefoot's. For all you Emily/Ward fans, the beginning was pretty much for you. For the rest of you, I hope you enjoyed my story, and always remember to review! I'll update at 55 reviews. Thanks, and gods bless (in particular Artemis hahaha)._


	11. Electroshock therapy

**AN: Man, you guys are fast! I hope my sudden popularity will last!**

As I floated through the dark abyss, I reminisced about how I got where I was. Seriously, I was your average almost-15-year old, brown hair, blue-eyed girl. Sure, I was mostly nocturnal, even before the monster attack, but seriously? I'm the daughter of someone who doesn't want me and hates spending any time with me? How is that even remotely fair?

Finally, after trying (and failing) to find the purpose for my existence, I felt myself returning to consciousness. I groaned, but for some reason I couldn't move.

"She's awake! Get Thalia!" I heard some footsteps run off, and I was left, lying in the dark. It was a weird darkness, because I couldn't see any stars. Maybe I was indoors. Still, something was weird. It smelled like a forest, but everything was black.

I heard footsteps approach, obviously this Thalia.

"Take off her blindfold." she ordered, sounding a lot like Artemis. Blindfold? Oh man. You can tell I don't get kidnapped often.

It was dark out, so the bright sunlight couldn't hurt my eyes. I was in a forest clearing, and I was surrounded by about 10 girls. One of them, Thalia, was standing in front of me with her arms crossed in a menacing manner.

"Who the pronk are you guys?" I exclaimed, trying to get up. When I couldn't, I looked down, only to see my entire body wrapped in a silvery rope.

I looked at Thalia. She was a teenager, like me, but she had a silvery glow around her. She was wearing silver camo pants, and the one thing that set her apart from the others was the silver crown on her head.

"It doesn't matter who I am. It only matters that you've destroyed everything we've worked for. Your birth is a-"

"Yes, yes, a blight on society, I know. I've already gone through this on Olympus. At least they let me have a lawyer." I said wearily.

Apparently, that surprised them.

"What? You've been on Olympus? Have you seen Lady Artemis?" Thalia asked eagerly, forgetting her anger.

I groaned. "Ugh. Yes. She's probably the most insane person I've ever known."

Before I could blink, Thalia had stomped hard on my stomach and all of the other girls had bows drawn and pointed at me.

I was gasping for air, so I wasn't paying much attention to her furious yells. Something about having respect for Artemis.

"Okay! I get it!" I mumbled after the speech had continued for quite a long time.

"Fine. Tell us your story from the beginning. Don't leave a single thing out." Thalia commanded. She flicked her hand and the rest of them put their bows away. I felt a modicum of defiance, so instead of answering, I asked a question of them.

"Who are you guys anyway? Artemis fans?"

They all gasped, and Thalia kicked me again. I could tell she was getting mad, because she had this weird electric current, like the one on Cabin 1. Coincidence?

"You will address her with respect, or we will beat it into you. We are, or were, the Hunters of Artemis. Now you, are you or are you not her daughter?"

Still mad about the threat, I didn't respond. Maybe it wasn't the smartest decision, but I've had enough of people bossing me around. If silence was the only way I could fight back, so be it. Thalia, noticing my tightly closed lips, knelt down beside me. She laid a hand on my forehead and flexed.

Immediately, 10,000 volts of pure pain ripped through me. My eyes actually rolled back in my head and my muscles twitched spastically trying to break through my bonds. This was even worse than being transformed into a rabbit. It even made talking to Ward seem like a gentle pat on the back. I had to make it stop!

"Yes! I am!" I gasped out. At once, the pain stopped.

"Now was that so hard?" she asked in a little-kid-voice.

I laid there, open-mouthed in horror. How could she possibly inflict that much pain and not feel any remorse? The other girls were wincing, so I guessed that they had had their share of electricity.

"Now, we'll try again," Thalia said, resting her hands on her knees. "Tell us your story."

Still twitching from Thalia's little, "demonstration", I retold my story, downplaying my terror and not mentioning Ward or Willow's names. I also didn't mention the restrictions she placed on me.

"Wow. So, you are the cause of all of our problems." Thalia said, rubbing her forehead in thought.

I didn't say anything, learning that my only way of protesting would result in a lot of pain.

"Since I'm such a nice person," I rolled my eyes but wisely stayed silent. "I'll fill you in on what is happening. As soon as they found out about you, someone from Olympus announced it to the entire godly world. Naturally, we heard. We tried to talk to Artemis, convinced that it wasn't true. Instead of sitting down and explaining it to us, she blew us off, telling us that we were distracting her from her godly duties. That was about two months ago. We haven't heard from her since. So, we decided to get her attention another way. By kidnapping you."

Well, it wasn't the stupidest plan I had ever heard. Oh wait. It was. Facing the wrath of an angry goddess just to get a little attention was possibly the dumbest thing I had ever heard. When they all got turned into caribou, I hope they don't come crying back to me.

"And you are going to summon her."

"Summon her? She's not a dog! And, no! I won't take place in the idiocy that is your plan." I yelled, forgetting her lightning power. To my surprise, she didn't shock me. Instead, she did something a lot more worrying. She laughed.

"You are too funny. Do you really think you have a choice in the matter? You'll call her, or we'll make your life a living Hades."

I scoffed. "You'll 'make my life a living Hades'? Do you really think it can get any worse? My mom hates me, and would love an opportunity to curse me. Half of the Olympians hate me. And now I'm kidnapped by a bunch of girls and a psychopath. Do you really think my life could get worse? Sure, you can shock me, but I don't care. Nothing you can do will hurt as bad as what Artemis will do if I disturb her hunt. So, go ahead. Shock me. I don't care," I said bravely, lying through my teeth. I honestly don't know if I could handle being shocked again.

There was silence for a second. Thalia was looking into my eyes, as if trying to read my mind. Then, she turned abruptly and had a little pow-wow with the other Hunters.

I sighed and exhaled mightily. Apparently they weren't going to kill me, at least, not yet.

The Hunters debated for another few minutes, until they seemed to come to an agreement. Thalia walked over to me and crouched down again.

'Oh suck,' I thought, certain that she was going to shock me. Instead, she started untying me.

"Don't even think about it," she muttered. "One false move from you and you'll be pierced with at least a dozen arrows."

Sure enough, all the girls had their bows drawn and aimed at me. Finally, the ropes fell away and I could move. I stretched and my back cracked in at least 15 different places. Not a healthy sign. I got to my feet, and all the blood rushed from my head and I had to grab Thalia for support.

Which was made difficult, due to the fact that she had moved too quickly, so before I knew it, my arm was being twisted behind my back. Not the best remedy for dizziness, I'll tell you that.

"You tried to attack me already? Do you want me to shock you?" she yelled furiously.

"Thalia, she wasn't attacking you! She was grabbing you for balance!" I heard one of the other girls shout.

Immediately, Thalia released me.

"Oh. Sorry. Let's head back to camp. Phoebe, you're on guard duty. Yell for assistance if you need it."

"Well, she's not going to yell for assistance if she doesn't need it," I pointed out helpfully. A couple girls, including Phoebe, laughed. Thalia rolled her eyes and the Hunters walked off into the woods. Phoebe walked up to me and asked

"Are you all right? Thalia's shocks can hurt a lot."

I laughed. "You don't say."

"This way to camp." she led me down the same path the other girls had just taken. As soon as we entered the trees, I noticed 10 silvery gray tents set up.

The Hunters were cooking stuff, and I felt a twinge of envy. Here they were, living in the wilderness, having the time of their lives, without a care in the world. I, on the other hand, had to deal with a psycho goddess and spontaneous kidnappings.

Phoebe directed me to a log and I sat down, watching the happy scene in front of me.

"Wait," I had suddenly remembered something. "aren't you supposed to be on guard duty?"

She smiled awkwardly. "I am."

Sigh. "I'm the one you are guarding, aren't I?"

She nodded.

After about 10 minutes, Thalia brought over some sausages for Phoebe and I. They were slightly burnt, made of dubious substances, and without a doubt, the most delicious thing I had ever tasted.

Eventually, warm, fed, and exhausted, I started nodding off. Noticing my sleepiness, Phoebe led me to a tent. It wasn't anything more than a blanket and a small pillow, but I accepted it gratefully.

And so, I slipped into a deep slumber.

**AN2: Wow guys! You guys are amazing! I know I said I'd update at 55, but it just happened so fast! Anyway, I hope you liked the chappy. Questions or comments? Just click that green button (not any other green button. That would just be ridiculous. 61 reviews and I'll update. Sorry for the numbers, but I like to feel useful. Thanks again!**


	12. Did I just get a quest?

**AN: I actually got this chapter done ahead of time, so I had time to think of a decent rhyme!**

"_What's she tracking this time?" It was dark, but I could hear a low, male voice._

"_I don't know. Some hideous pig thing. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that at precisely 8:56 P.M. Artemis will fall into our trap. It will serve her right to bear a little punishment for her constant defiance. Apollo will blame Athena, Athena will get mad, and then a huge lovely war will start. Isn't that exciting?" a soft, female voice asked._

"_Oh yeah!" the guy responded. "But what if Apollo sees her? He'll kill us!"_

"_That's the beauty of our timing, my dear. Apollo will have just passed over her in his sun chariot. No one will know for hours. By which time we will have hidden her away."_

"_That's why I love you, baby."_

"SHE'S IN DANGER!" I woke up, yelling that over and over again.

"Emily? What's wrong?" Phoebe stuck her head inside my tent.

"Artemis! Someone's going to try to trap her!" I yelled, crawling through my tent in a rush. It must have been pretty late, because I could see the sun just setting and the first stars appearing. I would have gotten further if Phoebe hadn't grabbed my arm and pulled me back. Why didn't she get it?

"You have to calm down! It was just a dream!" she said.

More and more people were sticking their heads out of their tents, wondering what all the noise was about.

"I'm telling you, someone's trying to hurt- Oh thank the gods! Thalia!" (Note: I never expected to say those words in that order) "We need to go! Artemis is in danger!"

"What? Explain!" she ordered, obviously not in a joking mood.

I quickly told her my dream, watching her face grow paler with every word I spoke. After I was done with my narrative, she didn't speak. She just reached into her tent and pulled out a backpack.

"Where are you going?" I asked. "This is hardly the time for a hike through the woods!"

She turned to look at me, her eyes flashing.

"Shut up. I'm going to go try to save her. It's already 7:30. I don't have much time. Phoebe, you're in charge. Make sure she doesn't escape." At that, she took off sprinting into the forest, leaving me behind with a very confused Phoebe.

"She'll never be able to find her in time." Phoebe muttered, looking off into the distance. Suddenly, she jumped and tugged at my shirt. "Come on! I have the perfect plan!" she started running off into the distance. Then she looked back and realized I wasn't following.

"Come on! What are you waiting for? Do you want her to be captured?" she yelled.

"What has she ever done for me? Hurt me? Yes! Insult me? Yes! So, why should I help her?" I yelled back, sitting down on the same log from last night.

"Because," Phoebe said, her voice lowering dangerously. "if you don't, I'll have Thalia electrocute you until you die. Plus, she's your mom!"

It was more the threat than the guilt that made me get up. I got up and walked over to her. Then, we took off like a herd of gazelles.

After a little while, I finally asked what was bothering me.

"So, what's your plan anyway? How am I gonna summon Artemis?" I asked, not even panting. Man, I love moonlight! It's like bathing in a Red Bull!

"Well, as soon as we get to camp, you are going to make your mom mad. I'm sure you have many ways to do that." she said smirking.

"Oh yes." I said, liking this plan more and more as time goes on. I get to antagonize Artemis, and she can't even torture me for it! And I had the perfect way of making her mad. How mad will she get when she senses me hugging Ward?

We ran for an hour minutes before we saw the familiar hills of Camp Half-Blood. Thankfully, there weren't any invisiwall, so we could run right in. Well, I could. Phoebe was stopped. I stopped too, wondering what was wrong.

"I can't get in! You have to hurry!" she checked her watch. "It's already 8:45!"

Without further ado, I ran around, looking for Ward? Where was that adorable scumbag?

After several minutes of frantic searching, until finally, I saw him, lying by the lake.

I knew the pain would slow me down, so I didn't yell his name. However, since I wasn't really planning on laying next to him on the ground, I howled like a Wolf (because I am one, ha ha ha).

"Emily?" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Perfect.

I crashed into him, and surprisingly, he was strong enough not to fall down. And then..

"Owwww!" I howled as Artemis's wrath hit me full force. The pain was even more intense than it had been earlier. Even Thalia's shock would be preferable to this!

"Emily? What's going on?" Ward yelled, probably freaked out. I mean, if someone almost passed out every time they came near me, I would be alarmed too.

"Nothing. Just hug me!" I said, thinking how much that could be taken out of context. He was obviously confused, but he hugged me back. The pain was steadily increasing, until I was leaning on Ward for support. Finally, just before I was going to push him away, I heard a crack.

"EMILY MARIE WOLF! What the Hades do you think you're doing?" I heard my mom's angry voice yell. I jumped away from Ward and the pain stopped.

"Mom-" I tried to explain, but she cut me off. She grabbed my arm and dragged me all the way to the cabin, practically breaking my arm in the process. Ward was left behind again, poor guy.

Finally, we reached the cabin. Artemis clapped and all the beds were thrown to the side, leaving a large space clear in the middle. She threw me down and towered over me, her silver aura emitting angry sparks.

My mind blanked, and all I could remember is my crippling fear of all things rabbit. Arm aching, I sat up, only to cower in fear at her furious form.

"Do you remember what I said I would do if you disrupted my hunt?" she asked, taking a threatening step towards me.

"Mom, I-" I started again.

"Do not call me mom! You will address me as 'Lady Artemis' or I'll cut out your tongue." she said, gesturing to her hunting knife. Oh my satyr.

"Lady Artemis-" I began yet again, scooting away from her. She shot an arrow that caught my shorts, making me unable to move. Another arrow caught my sleeve, slamming me down on my back. I craned my neck, trying to keep her in view. A third arrow caught the collar of my shirt, less than a centimeter from my neck. Now I couldn't move my neck at all. I was successfully trapped like a mouse in a trap.

"Now, about your wish..." she trailed off.

"What wish?" I asked, glad to finally be able to finish a thought.

"I promised that I'd make you wish you had never been born. I'm just following through on that," Artemis said with a grin. She flicked her fingers, and again, pain ripped through my body.

"Trap!" I managed to shout, breaking my flow of profanity.

Her torture stopped.

"What?"

"I just saved you from a trap! That's why I had to get your attention!" I yelled, still feeling the pain from her "wish fulfillment."

Artemis snapped, and I flinched, expecting more pain. However, she had just made the arrows disappear. She helped me to my feet and conjured a chair, a nice, red, squishy one.

I sat in it, wincing.

"Umm… this may hurt." she said as she laid her hand on my forehead. I tried to struggle out of her grip (remembering when Thalia had done the same thing), but, well, she is a goddess after all. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her weird aura contract and then flow through her arm into my-

_I was a little girl, watching under the door as my father argued with someone in a bright silver light._

_I was 8, and I noticed that there were a lot of deer in my yard. I walked out, only to find that I could hear low voices murmuring._

_I was 10 and I saw a light gray owl fly over my yard._

_I was 11 and a silver wolf was following me home._

_I heard those voices from my dream again, this time louder and more clearly._

"Di Immortales!" I heard Artemis exclaim as I rubbed my head.

I took a deep breath and looked at her. "Yeah. So you understand why I had to get your attention. It was either that or I kiss him," her eyes flashed and I quickly backtracked "kidding. So, how the flip did you access my memories?"

"Hello? I'm a goddess. We can do stuff like that," she said, smirking and straightening her shirt in an boastful manner. "Anyway, sorry for, you know-"

"Torturing me?"

"Yeah."

For a couple seconds, we just sat there awkwardly. Then, she pulled me up.

"What? I didn't do anything-" I began, panicking.

"Silence!" she barked as she pulled me into what was unmistakably, a hug. She released me extremely quickly and took a step back. "I don't know why you mortals bother with that. I much prefer transformations as a greeting." She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, checking to see if I had gotten the joke.

I was still standing there, shocked. Artemis had just hugged me!

"In any case, I need to speak to my Hunters. Come along," she said, walking towards the door.

"Well, I was thinking that I could just stay here and-"

"I do believe that that wasn't a suggestion." Artemis said icily, all trace of motherly affection gone.

I sighed and walked over to the door. She grabbed my arm, not nearly as hard, and we walked out the door. My first casual conversation with my mom went as such:

"So, what animal are you hunting?"

"It does not have a name."

"Have you been hunting it long?"

"No."

"Do you like hunting?"

"Obviously."

"When did you first form the Hunters?"

"Many years ago."

"Do you see them often?"

"Do I have to curse you to get you to stop asking questions?"

As you can imagine, that ended our conversation pretty quickly.

We reached the edge of camp, only to see Phoebe pacing furiously back and forth. When she saw Artemis approach, she kneeled.

"You should do that," Artemis whispered to me. I wasn't sure if she was joking or not, so I settled for a half-smile. "No, I'm not kidding."

I turned to look at her, unsure if she had read my thoughts or not. She smirked and said, "Your face is very easy to read."

"Lady Artemis!" Phoebe exclaimed as soon as we were in earshot.

"Hello Phoebe. How has your Hunt been?" Artemis asked cordially.

"Much less bright without you, My Lady," Phoebe responded earnestly. I snorted, and Artemis glared at me and snapped her fingers quietly. Expecting pain, I tried to apologize.

It was then that I realized that I couldn't speak. I could breathe normally, but I couldn't talk or even snort. Phoebe looked at me strangely, and then returned her attention to Artemis.

I walked a couple of feet away, and tried to yell. I could feel the oxygen leaving my lungs, but not a sound came out. Then, I tried breathing loudly, but that didn't work either.

"Come along Emily. I need to speak with my Hunters and I want you to come." Artemis ordered.

I tried to protest, but it wasn't as easy doing it silently. Phoebe and Artemis took off running, way faster than Phoebe and I had gone earlier. I figured that Phoebe was trying to impress Artemis, or maybe Artemis just inspired her. Oh well.

I took off, feeling kind of jealous that Phoebe and Artemis could talk like friends, while I was panting in the back of our group. Finally, just when I was ready to pass out, we reached the camp.

The rest of the Hunters were still there, milling around.

"Hello Hunters," Artemis said, making her voice really loud. I had already pretty much blacked out from the run, so I was gasping over near a tree while Artemis spoke to them.

Finally, once I regained my breath, just as I heard Artemis say, "Where is my lieutenant? Where is Thalia?"

For a moment, nobody answered. Then, someone from the back spoke up.

"She's out trying to find you. The prisoner told her you were in trouble, so she left. I guess she was given some false information."

Artemis turned to look at me and I tried to protest. Unfortunately, I was still silenced.

"Well, then I guess it will be up to the prisoner to find her then." Artemis said, shrugging.

WHAT!

"I obviously can't go, not with those trappers nearby. So, the logical choice is for you to go. I don't want any of my Hunters to get hurt."

But it's okay if I get hurt?

"My Lady, do we really want to trust this important of a mission to a newcomer? And an inexperienced one at that! Maybe one of the Hunters should go." someone in the back said. I was beginning to really dislike the back.

"Are you questioning my orders, Dressa? Perhaps you think that nymphs don't have to follow the rules? Is that true?" Artemis asked, getting mad.

As Dressa quickly apologized and declared her loyalty to Artemis, I thought about the mission.

"So it is decreed. Emily Wolf will travel South and find Thalia. If she doesn't," Artemis continued, noticing my defiant look. "she will be tortured into insanity. You have one week."

Is that the summer solstice or something?

Artemis gave me a weird look. "No." she snapped her fingers and my outfit was changed into what the Hunters wore, complete with backpack.

"If you need me, you can IM me. The instructions are in the bag. Farewell."

With that, I was pushed out into the forest, stuck in an insane quest but my crazy mother. Oh pronk!

**AN2: I know I've already said it, but I am amazed by your reviewing skills! Thank you and keep it up! Shall we say 68 reviews until update? Thanks again and have a good… oh well. No one reads these messages any way. P.S. This is my longest chapter so far.**


	13. Why hello there ground How are you?

**AN: Thanks to all the reviews, I don't get a morning off. Oh well, I'm not really a fan of golf. Warning: For all you Emily/Ward fans, sorry. They only kiss 3 times this chapter, but don't worry.**

I looked around, already lost in the dark, dark forest. Turning around, I tried to walk back into camp. Imagine my surprise when I hit an invisiwall. Artemis must love using an invisiwall, I thought bitterly.

I turned around, facing the path Artemis had forced me into. Then I noticed something strange.

There was a silvery path going through the forest, following the path I think Thalia must had taken.

"Thank mo- Lady Artemis," I said silently as I took off, running. I knew Artemis had done this to make my job easier. The faster I found her, the faster I could get back to Camp Half-blood and relax.

The path was pretty straightforward, lacking in any weird Tarzan moves or whatever. I didn't see any animals, which I thought was odd. Hunting season maybe?

I lost the path a couple times, so I had to backtrack and find it again. This meant I had to pay strict attention the ground, so I couldn't daydream or anything fun like that.

After a couple hours of running, I was exhausted. I must have run at least 50 miles today alone. Forgetting about my backpack and supplies, I fell over and entered an state of REM that was so deep, I almost needed a life vest.

"_Ah ha! We have you! You'll never escape from us, Arte-" the lady's voice was harsh and gloating. She stopped mid sentence. "Umm, honey?"_

_The guy spoke up. "Yeah?"_

"_THIS ISN'T ARTEMIS! THIS ISN'T EVEN A GODDESS!" the lady screamed, hurting my eardrums._

"_She's wearing silver camouflage! How was I supposed to know that it wasn't Artemis?" the guy defended himself angrily. "She has that weird aura that Artemis does!"_

"_That's called the Blessing of Artemis, you fool!" the lady yelled, and I could imagine her shaking her head the guy. Then, she gasped. "Silver camouflage, Blessing of Artemis, silver circlet that totally clashes, Oh my Zeus! We caught the lieutenant of the Fools of Artemis or whatever! This is perfect! She'll have to come rescue her! She might even be on her way now! I thought I sensed someone following the path we set. Foolish goddess. Well, let's catch her. This way, darling." the lady's voice chuckled evilly, and _I woke up gasping. They were coming for me!

'There's a slight chance I could outrun them,' I thought as I got up. Then I realized that I could barely move, thanks to my sore muscles. Artemis! I could IM her, whatever that means.

Quickly (not really), I fumbled around in my backpack, looking for the IMing instructions. Finally, I found a piece of paper with instructions written on it. It read:

Instructions For IMing:

1. Find a rainbow or other reflective surface.

2. Drop a golden drachma into said reflective surface.

3. Say, "Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering!"

4. Say the name of the person you want to talk to.

5. Speak to the person of your choice.

6. Swipe your hand through the reflection to dissolve the connection.

Have a good day!

As I read the directions, I noticed that my backpack had a mirror, with a weird gold coin taped to it.

"Thank you!" I said to no one in particular, noticing that I could speak out loud again.

I angled the mirror in the sunlight (which I wasn't used to) until it reflected the sunlight into a mirror about the size of an iPhone onto a nearby tree. It was at about eye-level, so I set the mirror on the ground and gently placed the strange coin into the rainbow. To my utter shock, it went right through like a vending machine. I eve her it clink as it reached the bottom of wherever it went.

"Ummm. Ok. Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering!" I read off the paper.

"Please say who you want to call." a misty voice said, from the tree.

"Artemis. The Greek godd-" I started, not sure if I needed to specify which Artemis or not. Surely, there must be hundreds in the world, even if it is an odd name.

"Please hold while I connect." Soft music played in the background and I looked around anxiously. The people from my dream could be here any second!

"What do you want?" Artemis's blurry face filled the screen. Her hair was ruffled and she had a slight slur.

"Were you asleep?" I asked.

"Obviously. Now hurry up before I turn you into a smoarrel." she mumbled.

"Lady Artemis, they've captured Thalia!" I yelled, trying to wake her up.

Well, that worked.

"Who did?" she asked urgently. She seemed wide awake now, and took a step closer, to hear better I guess.

"It was-"

"That would be us." Before I could react, some heavy pressure was applied to my back and I was forced on the ground.

"Gerrof meh oo dirty at!" I mumbled around the dirt in my mouth. Whoever was behind me laughed and what felt like a boot was placed square on the center of my back. It was the exact same laugh from my first Olympian dream. I tried to push up, but it was like having a mountain lying on me.

"Hello again Artemis. Checking up on your daughter? How touching." a female's voice said. It had the same cadence as the girl in my dream but sounded different somehow. It still sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had heard it before. Maybe I had grass in my ears or something.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I could hear the fury in my mom's voice and I could imagine her blurring angrily.

"You know who I am. And what could I possibly want? I have all I need. You, on the other hand," the lady continued, clearly gloating. "you must want something. Could it be your daughter, by any chance?"

Artemis snorted. Oh no.

"'My daughter'? I feel more of a connection to the last rabbit I shot than I do to her. Kill her. I don't care." her voice was nonchalant, and I felt a ripping sensation in my soul. My own mother telling people that she didn't care if I lived or died?

"Maybe that's true, maybe it's not. But I bet I have someone you do care about," the lady said, snapping her fingers. I heard a sharp crack and then some muffled yelling. It sounded like-

"Thalia? Let her go this instant!" Artemis shouted angrily. "She's innocent! Whatever problem you have with me, we can settle it face-to-face. Let the maiden go!"

The lady sighed, contentedly.

"I knew you'd react like this. So, I propose a trade. I'll release this girl, but I get you instead. You'll be a much more interesting play-thing. Immortality, you see. So, do we have a deal?"

"Mom! No don't do-" I tried to yell. Whoever had his boot placed on my back stomped on my arm and I felt a bone crack.

"What did you do?" I heard Artemis shout over my screams of agony. And yes, there was some profanity mixed in there.

"Nothing. Why do you care anyway?" the lady asked, trying to trick her into revealing her affection.

"Of course I care!" My heart leaped and I stopped swearing for a second. "That's my lieutenant you have!"

Her final rejection made something snap in me. She cared more for a stranger than she did for me. Suddenly, the burning pain in my arm didn't feel so bad anymore. I was so filled with anger that I didn't have room in me for any other emotion. I stopped yelling and I relaxed my muscles.

Then, I pulled the sweetest move ever. Instead of pushing up, I twisted OUT and grabbed whoever and jerked his leg to the side. He fell heavily, and I leapt up, seeing red. I punched whoever the girl was, not looking at her. I noticed Thalia, hovering there in midair, her eyes wide with shock. Instead of helping her like I should have, I turned to look at my mom

"I hate you!" I had just enough time to yell that before I saw something swing at me out if the corner of my eye. Too slow to dodge, I had just enough time to close my eyes before what felt like a semi hit me on the side of my head.

Unconsciousness wasn't immediate, so I could feel it as whoever it was kicked me in my side, over and over again. Finally, barely conscious and hurt in so many ways, my body just shut down.

**AN2: So, how'd you like it? Extremely violent, I know, but its been one of those days. Thank you so much for the reviews! Seriously, you guys have no idea how much they mean to me. Sorry to all of you who believed that Ward and Emily would kiss (then again, did anyone really believe that in the first place?). I'll update at 76, so keep the love coming. P.S. check out my other story if you want. No big deal. I promise it is not nearly as nerdy as it seems. P.S.S. Don't hate Artemis too much. She has her ways. Bye and thank you all so much (again)!**


	14. Always Second Best

**AN: This chapter you're reading may be the final one. I'm just kidding of course, its nowhere near done!**

**FN(friend note): Hi Orvon! This is Turtlefoot! I separated the lines! Yay! Oh, and hi readers! READ MY STORIES! jk, its fine. Not even my mother loves me...  
**

"Ugh…" I groaned as I regained consciousness. My entire body was throbbing, but mostly my stomach. Every heartbeat pumped more unhappy into my system. I tried to stand, but I couldn't move.

"Well, this is new," I muttered sarcastically. Why do I always wake up tied down in some way? What's wrong with just using a bed?

"Emily?" I heard a voice ask.

I hadn't opened my eyes yet, but when I heard the voice, I looked over towards the bright sunlight made my eyes water, and I remembered why I like nighttime so much.

"Thalia?" I asked, noticing a burning in my throat. My eyes adjusted and I could see that we were in what looked like a dungeon. Why do those still exist?

"Oh thank Zeus! I thought you were dead." she said, sighing a sigh of relief (not comic relief. That's my job.)

"What happened?" I asked. My memories were still kinda foggy.

"Where are we?"

"What do you remember?" Thalia asked. We were both tied to chairs with our arms bound behind our backs.

"I remember flipping the one guy and I think I punched the lady. Then I yelled at Artemis, and then nothing. What happened next? And why are we tied up?"

Thalia sighed. "Well, before I explain what happened, I need to tell you something. That move you pulled was AMAZING! You flipped the God of War onto his back like it was no problem! You were even surrounded by this awesome silver aura, like Lady Artemis is when she gets angry. Anyway, after your little move, Ares, that was the guy, was so mad. He punched you and then started really whaling on you. Finally, Aphrodite, that's the lady, pulled him off and turned to the camera. 'She must really be your daughter,' Aphrodite said. Lady Artemis was actually speechless. Then Aphrodite said something in Greek and Ares hit me, so I blacked out. I woke up here, about 5 minutes before you did. How are your ribs?"

Now that she mentions it, they felt like death. Actually, it only hurts on my right side, but man, it hurts bad.

"They don't hurt that bad," I lied, looking at the ground. "Do you have any idea why we are here? Why didn't Artemis just call Zeus or something?"

"I don't know but I wish she would. My dad could bail us out of here, no problem." Thalia said, looking at the door wistfully.

"Zeus is your dad?" I asked. I had never really out that together, so I felt kind of slow. The whole lightning thing should have been a huge nodded and we sat in silence for several minutes, listening to the drip of a leaky pipe (because every good dungeon has one).

"Emily?" Thalia asked.

"Yeah?" I would have given a more sarcastic answer, but I had the feeling this was actually something important.

"Thanks for coming after me."

"No problem."

This wasn't a good time to point out that I never really had a choice in the sat there for what seemed like hours. My throat was really hurting and my stomach started , I heard what sounded like a door open behind me.

"Here they are." I heard the lady (Aphrodite?) say. Three shadows fell across the room, so I guessed that Artemis was with them.

"We made a deal. Let her go," Artemis said impatiently.

At this, I started hyperventilating. Her? Singular? Surely she didn't-"Patience Artemis, patience. We'll let your lieutenant go."

I heard the guy (Ares?) say with a chuckle. "Maybe we can have a little fun first. After all, the lead Hunter breaking her vow would be just delightful. And I believe Aphrodite has the perfect power for that."

Thalia looked really terrified, and I didn't blame her. If I remember correctly, Aphrodite was the goddess of love. So, she could make Thalia fall in love with anyone. She would have almost total control over Thalia.

Aphrodite was shaking her head."Maybe next time darling. We need to get going." Aphrodite snapped her fingers and Thalia's ropes disappeared.

She got up quickly and walked over to Artemis."If my Lady does not leave, then neither do I! I will not abandon-"

"Oh yes you will. Thalia, I order you to go back to camp and lead the girls until I get back. If you refuse to leave, then I will have no choice but to treat you like an enemy. Go now." Artemis's voice was loud and demanding. She snapped her fingers and Thalia disappeared, still protesting loudly.

"Well, we have many things to do. Life on Olympus is always busy," Aphrodite was obviously reminding Artemis about her recent trial results. "Ta ta for now!"

With that, Ares and Aphrodite strolled out, locking the door with a very ominous snapped her fingers and my ropes fell away. Now that Aphrodite had left, she just looked tired.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, looking at me.

I was too busy stretching and hating her to , she snapped her fingers and a tray full of what smelled like roast beef appeared on the ground next to me, with a nice cool glass of water beside though my stomach was rumbling, I ignored the food. If Artemis thinks she can just waltz in here after treating me like slime and expect me to be civil, then she can just forget it. She just wants someone to control, and I will not fill the I was getting myself worked up, Artemis was pacing around the room, muttering in Greek. Every now and then she would shoot of bursts of light. I guess she was having a fit or something. Just when I was about to abandon my fury and dig into the mouthwatering meal, she turned around and looked at me.

"Why haven't you eaten? You must be famished," she said, crinkling her eyebrows in confusion.

"No. I'm fine. Why don't you go send it to Thalia?" I muttered the last part under my breath, but (curse you Olympian hearing) she heard me.

"What?" her voice was confused anymore. It was just plain mad. I recognized the warning signs that normally preceded a temper tantrum.

"For a goddess you don't have very good hearing." I said rolling my eyes. After her freeing me and offering food I needed her to do something to make me mad again. Even I can't stay mad opened her mouth, and I flinched, waiting for the pain that was sure to minutes passed, and no pain. Finally, I opened my was just standing there, looking confused again. Before I could do anything, she walked over to where I was sitting on the ground and placed her hand on my forehead. Memories flashed before my eyes.

_I was 12 and someone pushed me into a door, hard._

_I was 13 and I heard people making fun of my garden gnome collection._

These memories were different than the other ones she had made me relive. I could actually FEEL my anger and my hurt.

_It was a couple of days ago and I was watching Phoebe and Artemis running ahead, acting like best was just yesterday and Artemis was saying that she didn't want me to Aphrodite and Ares. _

Seeing it again hurt just as bad, because everything was clearer and louder. Then I yelled at Artemis and it clicked. She didn't know why I was mad. I expected her to stop the flow of memories, but she didn't. It was only after I blacked out (in my memory) that she left my mind, frowning.

"You're hurt? Why didn't you say so?" she took a couple of steps toward me and I backed away, covering my wounded side with my hands.

"Let me see it. Now." her voice echoed around the empty room but I didn't move.

"It's fine." I said growled and snapped her fingers.I was thrown back onto my back with my arms spread out to the side. Silver chains appeared out of nowhere and held me in place on the ground. I struggled and writhed, but couldn't get free.

"You know, I never went to veterinary school." she said randomly, walking towards me. "So if I have to transform you into a rabbit, I'll probably mess up. Badly." The way she said it made it sound like more of a threat than a warning.

Artemis pulled up my shirt until she could see the full extent of my injury. Only the right side was showing, but this was still more revealed than I like. If it was up to me, the closest I would ever get to Artemis is 100 miles away, (fully out of her shooting range) and even then I'd be surrounded by a tank and a suit of armor.

"I could still hit you if I aimed right. Man, this looks sick. Does this hurt?" she poked the very top, where I don't think there was any bruising.

"No."

"Here?"

"Nah."

"Here?"

"Oh my gods, yes!" I yelled, almost blacking out from the pain.

"Sorry! I needed to find out where the injury started."

"I thought Apollo was the God of Healing. Why can't we call him in or something?" I asked, still wincing from the pain.

"You don't think I've tried that? Didn't you see me sending those beams out before? Aphrodite sealed the room too well. And anyway, I can do this. Apollo taught me a thing or two. Hold still." Well, nothing calms you down like a goddess with glowing hands hovering over your wounded stomach. She started chanting something in Greek, and a white light washed over me.

"There you are. All better. Well, actually..." She looked away.

"What?" I asked, worried that she was going to say that I would turn into a rabbit every full moon or something. That would just be ridiculous.

"I couldn't fully get rid of the pain. It'll hurt for a day or two. Anyway, besides that, we need to talk." she blinked and my shackles disappeared. I did a quick sit-up (that's not really a common occurrence) and winced. It still hurt to move, but not nearly as badly. I looked at my stomach and ran my hand over the newly healed wound.

"Why were you so upset?" she asked, sitting down in the chair I had been tied up in.

"When?" I delayed, knowing full well what she meant.

"Earlier, in the forest. I understand if you don't like me, but hate is a strong word. Plus, you were mad enough to get a really good aura going, and that takes skill. So, what was wrong?" she asked, leaning her head on her hands.

"I feel like I should be laying on a red couch." I said, now that Artemis was getting all chuckled and snapped. I flinched out of habit, so I didn't see a long red couch appear out of , I climbed onto it. Groaning, I leaned back and relaxed. It felt way better.

"So? Why were you mad?" Artemis asked again, pestering me.

"I wasn't. I was just acting like I was." I lied, closing my eyes to take a nap. An electric shock jolted me out of my relaxed pose.

"What was that for?" I asked indignantly.

"Lying. The chair is also a lie detector. Please sit down." she said, using "please" for the first time since I met her.

I sat down, knowing that I didn't really have a repeated the question again, more angry this time. I swear, she has temper issues.

"Fine! I was mad because you were treating me like garbage and obviously liking Thalia more. Plus, you obviously don't care about me and wish I would die. Happy?" I said, rolling over.

"Why would you say that?" Artemis asked, sounding genuinely confused.

I turned to face her."Well, there's the whole 'blight on society' thing. Then there's the fact that we can't get through a conversation without you inflicting pain of some sort upon me. Then there's the whole rabbit threat that you keep bringing up. And then, the whole 'I'll silence you so you can't refuse a ludicrous mission'. Finally, there's the whole 'No, don't hurt my lieutenant! Oh wait, it's only my lieutenant? Go ahead and kill her.' I'm stuck in this rat hole because of you and you don't even care!" I exploded, jumping to my pacing around the couch several times, I finally looked at Artemis. Then, I immediately took a step back. Not only was she "I'm gonna tear your face off" mad, she was "I will torture you into insanity" mad. Her eyes were glowing silver and her silver aura was shooting off sparks.

"I don't care?" she repeated, her voice deadly calm "Did you just say that I don't care? Do you know why I couldn't try to protect you? Because you're my daughter, Emily! Aphrodite knows how much I care about you, and she won't hesitate to use you to hurt me. She could kill you, Emily! In fact, if you weren't here, then I wouldn't be either. The only thing keeping me from leaving is knowing what they would do to you if I left! And I practically told you that yesterday! 'I feel more of a connection to the last rabbit I shot'! That was you! I thought you were smart enough to get the connection! And about Thalia. Her father is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Do you know what would happen if Thalia got hurt in any way, shape, or form? He would kill you out of revenge! That's why I had to get her out of here! And yes, sometimes I can be a little harsh. But if you were to meet any of the other Olympians and talk to them like you talk to me, you would be dead in a lack of heartbeat. Every single thing I've done is to protect you!" All of her pent-up anger was released as a shockwave swept through the room. It knocked everything over, including the second time today, I was flat on my back, unable to move, this time out of terror, when I heard the door creak open.

"Oh, Artemis?" Aphrodite's voice floated through the air. "It's time for our first session."

**AN2: I know, it's been too long. I promised to update a while ago, but I've been having some technical difficulties. And by that, I mean I'm grounded. Right mow I'm typing this on my phone, and I have to work out a complex system just to get it updated. Anyway, thanks for reading. What do to think of Artemis now? Not a big fan since the jerkiness has worn off? Don't worry. She'll be back. Night and happy reading! (I'll try to update at 85).**


	15. Ares and I become BFFs

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AN: My word count is outrageous. According to my friend Turtlefoot, "It's contagious!"

"Session?" I repeated, looking from Artemis to Aphrodite and back. "What session?"

"Aphrodite and I have some 'disagreements' to work out." It was very subtle, but I caught the hint of fear in Artemis's voice.

"Don't forget Ares. He'll be there too. Wait, is that a couch over there? Artemis, you should know better than that. No comforts. You are prisoners after all," Aphrodite said reprovingly. She snapped and the couch disappeared, and with it the food. I looked on sadly as my stubbornness left my belly empty.

Artemis got up reluctantly and Aphrodite gripped her arm harder than necessary and led her out, sealing the door again.

"Well, this is just great." I muttered, looking around. Here I was, stuck in a dungeon with my mom being who-knows-what upstairs. I tried to open the door, but it didn't budge. It didn't electrocute me though, which caused the odd sensation of thinking that Aphrodite was a kinder jailor than Artemis.

For the first time, I was worried about my mom. I had no idea when she was going to get back and what condition she would be in. In the mean time, I was determined to find a way out of this heckhole.

After about an hour of fruitless efforts, I slumped down, defeated.

"Stupid Olympians and their mystical powers," I muttered as a paced around the room.

Trying to make myself angry enough to glow, I thought about all the bad things Artemis had done to me. After her explanations, however, it was a lot more difficult.

Finally, after I had given up pacing and was on the cold ground, I heard the door open.

I quickly got to my feet, which made black dots appear before my eyes. After several seconds of frenzied rubbing, they revealed Aphrodite removing what looked like a golden bracelet from Artemis's wrist.

She pushed Artemis into the room and locked the door. Then, Artemis turned around and I gasped.

"What are you looking at?" she snarled, taking a step towards me. I couldn't respond, so filled with horror and pity.

Artemis had dozens of gashes across her face and her arms. They weren't bleeding, per say. More like oozing. This weird golden fluid was dripping out. When she took that threatening step, I saw her wince and mutter something under her breath.

"What happened?" I asked, taking a step towards her.

"Nothing. Aphrodite just didn't like me summoning food or couches. It's not that bad really." she insisted, using the exact tone of voice I use when I'm trying to cover-up my pain.

She sat down on the ground, and I wondered why she didn't summon a chair or something to rest on.

"I would, if not for this lovely reminder of 'my place', as Aphrodite put it so kindly," Artemis said as she rolled up her sleeve. Burned onto her arm in angry black/purple lettering was the word "Dirt".

I wanted to kill Aphrodite for doing something like that. Even though it obviously hurt, Artemis didn't say anything. Instead, she started chanting something that I recognized as a healing charm.

Her scratches and bruises disappeared, but the burn remained.

"Why does she hate you so much?" I asked after Artemis had laid back down and relaxed her muscles.

"It's a long story." Artemis said.

I waited for her to continue, but she made no motion to do so.

"Well, we have time," I hinted, looking at her.

"Fine, I'll explain. But don't interrupt or I'll silence you."

After I had nodded my consent, she went on.

"As you've probably heard a lot recently, I am," she stopped and corrected herself. "was the first goddess to vow to remain maiden. And Aphrodite, as the goddess of love, has always nursed a grudge against me. Maybe she thinks I've denied her a customer. Whatever. I'm pretty sure she sent a couple men after me. Orion and Actaeon were the unfortunate souls. I destroyed them, naturally, but I couldn't accuse her because I had no proof. Then, when I made my Hunters swear to forsake love, she took it as a personal attack. Because, well, it was. Anyway, she has been waiting for an opportunity like this for centuries, and now she has it, and us."

"What opportunity is that?" I asked, not really following.

"My absence from Olympus of course!" she exclaimed like it was obvious. To a mind-reader maybe.

"Oh. Why is Ares joining in on the hate parade? And why is he all over Aphrodite? I thought she was married to that one guy, Hepatitis?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"Hephaestus. And Ares will do anything Aphrodite tells him to, especially if it means he gets to, umm, hang out with her. And yeah, she's married. It hasn't stopped her from cheating on Hephaestus for the last 3000 years or so. Do you see now why love is unnecessary? It only results in more pain. Look at Zeus and Hera for pronk's sake. Numbers don't count high enough to count the number of illegitimate children he's had. Then there's Hades, Mr. "I'll kidnap a child and take her from her mother because I have an obsession that borders on pedophilia". And even Apollo, my brother who I love, treats women terribly. See? Love causes nothing but pain."

What had begun as an attack on Aphrodite, quickly became a rant about love. With her arguments, I was almost ready to swear off men forever. But there was a niggling doubt in the back of my mind, that maybe, just maybe, she was wrong.

Her deep breathing told me that she was asleep (actually, her snoring did that), and so I laid down quietly. My stomach was aching, but I was learning to ignore it.

I drifted off to sleep, still thinking about the cases Artemis had brought up.

"Morning Emily." I heard Artemis say as she shook my shoulder. I groaned and rolled over. She sighed and pulled me onto my feet.

"Why do I have to wake up?" I mumbled, trying to lie down again.

"Sleeping too long isn't good for you. You've been asleep 15 hours. Maybe you should run around or some-"

"Hello, prisoners." a voice said from the doorway.

Somehow, Ares had managed to open the door silently and was leaning on the door frame, holding a golden sword in his hand.

Artemis flinched at the sight of it, and she stepped in front of me protectively.

"Scared Artemis?" Ares taunted, noticing her fear.

"Of the idiot with a stick? Of course not. Although, I am worried that you'll drop it on your foot again. That was a fun injury," she said, not giving him the satisfaction of knowing her terror.

Ares grin quickly dropped, and he motioned for me to step forward.

"Let's go, Artemis Junior," he said.

"What?" Now Artemis sounded scared. "Why her?"

"Because Aphrodite wanted her. Are you really going to protest?" he asked, smirking. Before I could move, I was dragged forward, against my will by invisible ropes, to stand beside Ares.

He casually put his arm around my shoulders. Or, it would be casual if he hadn't held the sword to my neck as he did it. Artemis stiffened and her eyes widened nervously.

When Artemis didn't say anything, he smiled.

"Didn't think so."

He closed the door and led me down the torch-lit hallway. We climbed a flight of stairs, and we were suddenly in a bright room with electric lights. After being in a dark room for days, my eyes were understandably sensitive.

When my eyes had thoroughly adjusted, I looked around.

We were in a small office, with two seats behind a large wooden desk. There were books on the walls, but the were written in a different language. Behind the chairs was a huge window overlooking a lake. Aphrodite was sitting in one of the chairs, and Ares walked over to occupy the other, after he pushed me into a small chair that I hadn't noticed before. As soon as my arms touched the armrest, golden ropes sprang up and prevented my brilliant escape plan. It was pretty much me running out of the room screaming, but still. It was a plan.

"Are you hungry, Emily?" Aphrodite asked. I didn't like the way she said my name, like I wasn't her arch-enemy's daughter.

I stayed silent. No way was I going to accept food from a sworn enemy. If Artemis could take the pain, then so could I.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Maybe your experiences with other Olympians have been unpleasant, but I'm different. I don't require fear to earn respect."

I remembered Thalia's terrified face and I rolled my eyes, still not willing to talk.

Aphrodite sighed and snapped. Instantly, the ropes binding me fell away and a small table appeared in front of my chair. There was a delicious looking Italian dish and a cool glass of iced tea.

My stomach leapt at the sight of food but I restrained myself. It was probably spiked with love potion or something.

"Silly mortal. I don't need love potion."

"Will you please get the flip out of my head?" I exclaimed before I quickly jerked my arms up to cover my mouth. Dag freaking nab it! I broke my unnecessary vow! Maybe I'm more like Artemis than I thought.

Aphrodite let a triumphant grin streak across her face before she controlled her expression.

"Sorry. It was the only way I could hear your opinion. If I didn't want to hear your thoughts, then I would pull Artemis in here." At the mention of my mom I froze, remembering how hurt she had been.

Ares grinned and snorted. Aphrodite elbowed him.

"Ares, please leave. I can't have a heart to heart discussion with you here. I'll see you later," she added something in ancient Greek (probably something dirty) in his ear.

He grumbled but left without further protest.

"Please eat. I don't want you to starve to death."

"I'm not hungry," I lied, clenching my stomach to keep it from growling (no, that doesn't work).

"Eat it. Now!" her eyes got all scary and dark, and so I picked up a fork quickly. I took a small bite and groaned. It tasted so good.

She softened and frowned.

"Sorry. I don't mean to get all scary like that. Sometimes I can't control my anger." she actually looked ashamed, and I kept eating.

"See? We can be friends. In any case, what do you know about Artemis?" she leant forward in her chair, and I could tell that this was the real reason she had called me in. Pretending to be tired, I leant back in my chair.

"I'm tired. Can we talk later?" I asked, knowing that she wouldn't say yes to that.

"I'm kinda pressed for time. I'll ask one more time. What do you know about Artemis? Any...weaknesses?"

I sat bolt upright and looked at her with an incredulous look on my face (or so I'm guessing).

"Do you really think I'm going to betray my mom to a two-faced, ugly, moronic, skanky, jerk like you?" I asked, using up several of the nicknames I had come up with earlier.

Her face froze, but her eyes were seriously scaring me. The soft brown had turned into a hard black, and then became literal black holes.

"Until you learn to treat a goddess such as myself with respect, you won't be eating or drinking." she spat, knowing how hungry I still was.

I smiled at her. "I'll give you respect when you earn it."

"ARES!" she screamed, literally hurting my ears.

He burst into the room, sword in hand, clearly expecting a fight. When he saw me still sitting in my seat, he visibly relaxed and looked at Aphrodite questioningly.

"What's up?"

"Take her back to her room. I don't want to look at her." Aphrodite said, actually covering her eyes. Drama queen.

Ares pulled me up and led me back down stairs. Instead of pushing me into the dungeon, he turned me to face him.

"I didn't hear what you said, but hear this. If you so much as make Aphrodite frown, I'll take it out on you. If that doesn't scare you maybe this will. I am the world-leading expert on torture. I can break bones that you didn't know existed. And I won't just do it to you. Artemis's life will be a living Hades if you don't drop the attitude. You've been warned." With that lovely parting statement, he pushed me into the room. Actually, it was more of a kick that made my knees pop out of joint. Yeah, that's more true.

"Emily?" I heard Artemis yell as he ran over to me. The shock of the day and Ares's final threat finally got to me and I passed out. Wow, what an unusual occurrence.

**AN2: The reviews have been amazing! Thank you so much for showing that maybe I'm not such a mumbling crazy person. Now of only I could get the voices to stop... Anyway, sorry if you didn't like this chapter. It's hot and I'm grumpy. I'll update at 100 and it will be over 3,000 words if it happens within two days. And yes, that is a challenge. Thanks for reading and...merry Kwanza? **


	16. I hit on my Uncle

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AN: After 100 reviews, my mind was blown. Thank you so much for all the devotion you've shown!

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AN3: I'm really sorry about the wait. My grounded status has really interfered with my typing time. And I have some sad news. For the foreseeable future, this will be my last Artemis's Mistake update. I have no idea where to go with it and I don't want to crank out inferior chapters (which, I know this one sucks). Thank you for your time and devotion, and watch for my newest fanfic! Thank you, and gods bless.

My next couple weeks passed in a blur (probably due to all my concussions I must have by now). Artemis was really nice, and we actually had normal conversations. One conversation, stuck out in particular (you'll know why in a second).

"Artemis?" I asked, still not comfortable enough to call her mom.

She had been practicing her archery (not that she needed it) on a large brick. Unfortunately, she couldn't help me improve my technique. I tried to use her bow and it started glowing extremely hot. What was normally sleek silver was transformed into a "Back away now" white.

I had dropped it immediately, but I still had burns on my hands for days afterward.

"Yeah?" Her speech had become a lot more casual and friendly.

"How did you meet my dad?" I had tried to ask that question before, but it hadn't gone the way I had planned. This time however, she sighed and slumped against a wall.

"Your father never told you?" she asked, looking at me wearily.

"Nope. I used to ask him a lot but he always said that he didn't want to tell me. Once, though, he slipped up and he said he wasn't allowed to tell me. Did you lay a curse on him or something?" At this point, it wouldn't have surprised me if he was turned into a gopher if he mentioned it.

"No. The reason he couldn't tell you is because he was honoring my request. I asked him not to discuss it with anyone, especially you. Given the recent circumstances, however, it doesn't make any sense not to tell you."

Maybe it's just the word circumstance that throws me off, because every time I hear it I get confused.

"By our "circumstance", do you mean our imprisonment? Because, we've been here for about 3 weeks right? That's not really recent..."

"Emily, do you trust me?" she asked, totally throwing me off.

Several scenes flashed before my eyes. The rabbit. The cabin after she saw me hugging Ward. The silence. But then, as if a wall had been broken, other memories flooded in. Her healing my rib. Her yelling about how much she loves me. Then I realized. I did trust her.

My voice was steady and strong, "Yes. I do."

She didn't smile like I thought she would.

"Then, I have a plan. But you have to trust me for it to work."

I nodded, slightly worried about this plan of hers.

"We are going to have a big argument, and then I'm going to escape from this building and find my brother.

I sat there frozen. Didn't she say earlier that she was worried what they would do to me if she wasn't here? Didn't that still apply?

"Yes, of course it still applies. But this isn't working. I can not be helpless any longer. As soon as Apollo passes over in his chariot, I'll make my escape. Only if it's ok with you. I won't leave you here against your will." she said, sighing.

Well, that was nice of her. Either choose to let her go and face the wrath of Aphrodite and Ares, or make her stay and silently resent me.

"Why can't I go with you?" I whined, not liking my current options.

She furrowed her brow, and looked at me like I had gone insane.

"They didn't tell you? You are bound to this building. They used the power of two gods, so I'll need the power of two gods to break it."

In some weird, twisted way, it made sense.

"Was that the one weird golden bracelet you had on?"

"Nah, that was just a magic canceller. Whoever designed that need an arrow through their-"

"That would be me."

I turned around and groaned. Standing there, as proud as can be, were Ares and Aphrodite.

"So, planning rebellion are you? I believe I have warned you on several occasions what the punishment would be." Aphrodite started, and then she stopped. Artemis's aura was glowing hotter than I'd ever seen it. I covered my eyes, liking being able to see, thank you very much.

The sound of people fighting reached my ears, but for some reason I couldn't open my eyes.

Even with my eyes closed, I saw bright flashes of light that seared my retinas.

Finally, all was quiet. I opened my eyes, and gasped.

The room was in shambles. There were huge gashes across the walls, and Ares and Aphrodite were on the ground, leaking the same kind of liquid that Artemis always was after a session. They weren't unconscious though, as soon as they saw me, they leapt to their feet.

"She's gone?" I heard Aphrodite scream. "Ares, go get her!"

"There's no way I can catch her, babe. She's in her element. Besides, I don't want to get ichor on my new motorcycle." Apparently, he exchanged the motorcycle for his man card, because he definitely doesn't have one anymore.

"Fine. But we have to move her." Aphrodite said, making no move to do so.

Ares sighed and walked over to me. I flinched and tried to back away, but he grabbed my shoulder.

With a snap of his fingers, I was bound and gagged on the floor. My heart stopped, and I realized how terrified I was. How much cruelty had Artemis's presence protected me from?

With another lazy snap, I was floating about 5 feet off the ground, still tied up.

"Take her to the storage room." Aphrodite said, walking away. "Make sure she's miserable."

Ares nodded and then started our little adventure.

He must be a terrible driver, because it seemed like he steered me into every wall imaginable, until finally, it was too hard.

"Ahefgy!" I growled, blood dripping down my face from my nose. "Youb boke my effing noz!"

"Deal with it." he said, not even looking down. Finally, we reached the closet.

It was barely even a closet, about the size of a twin-sized bed. In the middle was a chair that was glowing a faint red.

"That's my invention." Ares said, proudly responding to my unspoken and uncaring question.

He untied me, and threw me on the chair. I was still gagged, otherwise I would be giving him the cussing out he deserved. Blood was running down my face and dying my gag red.

As soon as I was tied down, pain shot through my body. It was like sitting on the hottest stove in the world (not that I've had experience in that matter). Energy was radiating through the chair into my frail (not rabbit) body.

"I would relax if I were you," he said, yelling to be heard over my agonized (and sweartastic) screams.

Everyone knows how easy it is to calm down when you are in extreme pain and bleeding from your face. Somehow I managed, and the pain stopped. There was a faint smell of barbeque in the air, a fact that made me want to throw up. It was me.

"It's hooked up to your heartbeat, so I wouldn't freak out if I were you. Which I'm obviously not, because I can move and do godly things, and you're tied to a chair. If only your mommy loved you..." he trailed off as he walked out the door, locking it behind him.

At his comment, I saw red. I could not remember being this mad before in my life. Just when I was about to scream or yell or something, pain ripped through me.

I knew that the calmer I was, the less agony I would experience, but I just couldn't calm down. It seemed like every frustration from Mrs. Dragen's attack to now had been simmering in me, waiting to be unleashed. Well, now it was. I thought about Willow, Ward's time-freezing, Adonis's pratiness, Mr. D's indifference, Athena's hatred, and finally, Artemis leaving me to this fate. The pain had gone beyond just heat, to fire and ice combined. I could almost see myself jerking spastically in my chair as I tried to escape.

Eventually, I just shut down. No thoughts, no dreams, nothing.

I awoke sometime later, all calm and collected. Every single part of me ached, but for some reason I felt better emotionally. I guess finally confronting my anger had made it easier to deal with. Now, I just felt really calm. Or so I was trying to convince myself.

In reality, I was panicking. What if Artemis never came back? What if she was caught again? What if she couldn't find anyone to help her rescue me? What if she didn't want to rescue me?

My stomach rumbled, just to make my day worse. After Aphrodite had refused to give me any food, Artemis had always conjured some. Sure, it had to be small so that Ares or Aphrodite wouldn't notice, but still. It was sustenance.

My day was spent in a half loopy state of daydreaming. Different colors floated across the sky and I had several interesting hallucinations. One was a herd of rabbits pronking around the room (which as you know is quite ridiculous). Another one involved Ares and Aphrodite square dancing in my cabin at Camp Half-blood. Also, I began to contemplate some of the great mysteries of life.

At a movie theater which arm rest is yours? How does a Real Estate company sell its office without causing confusion? If pro and con are opposites, wouldn't the opposite of progress be Congress? If a doctor suddenly had a heart attack while doing surgery, would the other doctors work on the doctor or the patient? If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches? And finally, will my author ever let something interesting happen to me that doesn't involve pain? (ehhh I haven't decided)

My arguments took me all over the metaphorical galaxy, but alas. I found no answers.

Finally, something happened that broke me out of my protective bubble of weariness.

I heard the sound of voices right outside my door, Ares's and someone else's. Then, there were noises like a platoon of metal pans being whacked against walls, an my door opened. My heartbeat sped up, and the chair started to burn me again. I screamed in agony, still muffled by the stupid gag.

Walking into the room, in full armor, was the most amazing sight I had ever seen. It was Apollo, with Artemis and Thalia right behind him. At the sight of them, the chair started shocking me (I wonder where it got its inspiration from). Apollo quickly ran over to the chair and cut me loose. I then proceeded to fall flat on my face. All of my energy was gone from the continuous pain and hunger.

"Emily? Emily can you hear me?" I Heard artemis ask, as if from a distance.

"Oh my Hades! Look at her arms!" Apollo must have said. I was glad someone had noticed. I would have pointed it out myself but I was a little busy twitching from the after effects of the chair's latest assault.

A cool, soothing sensation spread through my body, and the pain stopped.

"We need to get her out of here. Apollo, help me with the magic." Artemis ordered.

"You know, if this were any other situation, and you asked me for help, there would be an sonnet involved. Just saying."

I heard Artemis sigh, and together, they started to chant over me. A curious sensation (not unlike frolicking through a meadow (not that I do that(sigh))) washed over me and I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off. For some odd reason, I still couldn't move.

"Emily, get up."

I would love to, I thought.

"What? Why can't you?"

Apollo was following our conversation with his mind-reading, but Thalia looked totally confused.

I don't know. My muscles won't move, I thought, looking at my arms.

"Apollo, pick her up. We have to get out of here." Artemis's voice was cold and efficient.

I saw Apollo reach down, and I was cradled in his arms, which I didn't mind one bit. Did I mention how gorgeous Apollo was? (Ew! He's my uncle!)

We left the building, but I didn't see Ares or Aphrodite anywhere. What a bummer. As soon as we were a good distance away, Artemis snapped, and we were all teleported to a woody area. The weird suction feeling was becoming second nature to me. In fact, it was actually becoming odder NOT being transported through space (Yes, that is a lie).

"Try to move," Artemis commanded me.

I did, to no avail.

"Apollo, is anything wrong with her?"

"She can't move." he pointed out helpfully. I hope I don't get my brains from his side of the family.

Artemis growled, and her aura began to glow a hot silver. "I can tell that," she ground out. "Fix it."

Apollo sighed and set me down on the ground. He waved his hands over me, and a warm sensation washed through my veins. Tension returned to my muscles, and I sat up.

"Finally. Well, come on. Let's get you some food." she said, helping me to my feet. And by "helping" I mean "almost yanking my arm out of socket".

I looked around and realized that we were back in the Hunter's camp. Yippee.

She led me over to the fire, and I sat down on the same log I sat on last time. Artemis brought me a plate of weird meat. At this point, I haven't eaten for over 72 hours. So you understand why the sight of a feast like this brought tears to my eyes.

"Stop being a sissy and eat already." Artemis said, walking over to Apollo and giving him a hug. "Thanks, bro."

He hugged her back. "Anytime. I always like to rescue a damsel in distress," he said, winking at me.

I couldn't tell if he was joking or being flirtatious, so I started eating. The most wonderful sensation of fullness washed through me, and I was happy for the first time in days.

"You must be tired. You can use the same tent that you used last time," she said, pulling me to my feet.

"No, I don't want to sleep," I was really afraid that I would wake up to realize that this had all been a dream. Then I might actually start bleeding from my soul.

"Sleep. You need rest." Artemis laid her hand on my shoulder and steered me into the tent.

I laid down, and my exhaustion overcame me.

_"You know it's not over." I heard a male voice say behind me. I whipped my head around, only to see Ares walking toward me. I tried to run, but on the other side was Aphrodite, glaring at me with her arms crossed. Suddenly, she transformed. _

_Ward was standing right in front of me. _

_"Did you really think I had changed? Yeah right," he said, walking towards me. He was exactly as I remembered him, complete with dark blue shirt and jeans. _

_"We're going to find you. And he's going to kill you."_

**AN2: This is where I would have stopped, but I made a promise**.

I awoke, screaming. I was back in the dungeon. Hahahaha jk. About the dungeon part.

"What the flip is the matter with you?" I heard Thalia yell from somewhere outside the cabin.

I heard someone rustle the entrance, and I panicked, certain that it was Aphrodite or Ares. Reaching around, I grabbed my pillow and swung at the intruder.

You can imagine my horror when I realized that it was my very angry, very terrifying mom.

"What. The. Hades. Do. You. Think. You. Are. Doing." she asked, pausing in between each breath for dramatic effect. Trust me, it was working.

"Sorry, I thought-"

"No. You didn't think. You haven't thought since we were first imprisoned," It was the first time someone had brought it up, so the memory was still raw. "Yes, we were together and almost-equals. Now, you need to start treating me with fear and respect, or you'll force me to make you. Do you want that?"

I shook my head, trying to mentally switch from the nice mom to the cruel goddess.

"No, if I were cruel, I would do this." she snapped her fingers and pain shot through my body. This awakened the memories of Ares and Aphrodite, so you'll understand why I was twitching and screaming more than normal. And my profanity was on a whole new level. Seriously, I could be a sailor.

Artemis left, so the pain stopped. I sat there, just thinking. Actually, it wasn't really thinking. It was more of a coma-esqe state of being. For hours I sat there, meditating.

Then, I heard her walk in.

"You're going back to camp."

"WHAT?"


	17. Not an AN

**AN: I couldn't stay away! Reviews make my day!**

**Next on: Nope.**

"WHAT?"

"You can't honestly be surprised," Artemis said as she sat down on the ground next to my blanket. "You've done nothing but sleep and laze around ever since you got here. Maybe hanging out with other illegitimate- other demigods will be good for you. Plus, it'll be safer there."

"Safer? What can possibly happen now?" I asked, sick of always being the victim. Why can't it be Amanda's turn or something?

"I'm going to go to Olympus. Aphrodite can't get away with abducting me. This is my one chance to take her down. And I don't need to have to deal with your kidnapping tendencies. So, you go back to Camp Half-blood tomorrow."

"Can I actually go out during the day this time? Like the normal kids?" I asked, sarcastically. If she says no, I'm going to freak out.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Yes, but no boys."

"But I'll have to talk to guys! I can't scream and run away every time someone of the opposite gender approaches me. Are you trying to torpedo my social life? Just because I talk to a guy doesn't just mean we'll end up making out." I whined, sounding like a normal teenager for the first time. Now, once I conquer my new fear of rabbits, I'll be ready to integrate back into society!

At the words "make out", Artemis turned a deathly shade of gray. The little hamsters in her head were running on their little wheels, going through all the different scenarios. Finally-

"Fine you can talk and shake hands. Nothing more." she got to her feet, and glanced at me, looking for my confirmation. When I didn't meet her eyes, she crouched down. "It's either that or I arrange for you to be used for target practice."

_How good could a bunch of campers be? _I thought, weighing my odds. Punching Adonis vs. Extreme Agony. So far it's balancing out.

"My target practice."

With those words, I was taken back into another time. Oh wait, it's not time for a flashback yet. Proceed with story.

"Fine," I muttered sullenly. "I, Emily Marie Wolf, swear on the River Styx, that I won't make physical contact with a member of the opposite gender without suffering your consequences." I recited, even using the proper Olympian format that Hermes had used.

She gave me another suspicious look, but didn't catch my little trick. "Okay. Actually, you're leaving today. No need to drag this out. Get your stuff and meet me outside."

She left the tent and I did a little victory wiggle (yes, it was pretty embarrassing.) I'm finally going back to a place where everyone isn't trying to kill me! Yay!

Getting up with a groan, I looked around my tent. My backpack was the only cool thing I had, so I filed out with it on my back

Of course, the blinding sunlight seared my retinas, so I spent a couple of seconds covering my eyes and cursing Apollo. Once the haze cleared, I saw that the Hunters were busy at work. They were making food, laughing, talking, and all-around having a good time. I wondered if it was all a front, or if they had really forgiven Artemis that easily. Maybe the fact that she could murder all of them with a cough helped.

"Ready?" Artemis asked me, glancing down from her silver clipboard. Her camouflage was perfect, without a scratch. My camouflage, on the other hand, was torn and stained red. Also, there is a mysterious blue stain that I'm slightly embarrassed about at about knee level.

"Yep!" I said enthusiastically.

Artemis gave me a "why are you so excited?" look (or maybe it was a "what have you been smoking?" look. I'll never know.).

"Alright. Thalia, come here!" she yelled, almost bursting my poor, fragile eardrums. Curse you, Olympian lung capacity.

Thalia got up from where she was eating a mysterious meat-like object, and walked over, looking confused and really tired.

"Emily needs an escort to camp. Are you willing?" she asked, ignoring my look of indignant outrage.

"Um, sure. But I don't think Emily wants me to come," You can tell that we were friends if she was willing to challenge Artemis on my behalf. And you can also tell how terrifying Artemis is by Thalia's sudden onset of paleness.

"Did I ask what Emily thought? If I wanted to know what she thought I would read her mind.. I can't have her kidnapped again, so you're going with her. Unless you think her opinion is more important than mine?" Artemis asked, her eyes flashing dangerously. Thalia froze like a deer in headlights (a feeling I know quite well). I enjoyed it for a second, and then went to bail her out.

"Let's go. Bye mom!" I said, pulling Thalia away. Thalia and I took off running before Artemis could react, and I laughed as soon as we were out of earshot.

"Thanks for rescuing me." Thalia said, easily keeping pace even though I was running my fastest. Dang.

I chuckled, and swerved to avoid a particularly large tree. "No problem. I guess we're even now, right?"

She smiled and nodded, and we continued running in silence. Every now and then she would yawn, and I wondered why she was so tired.

The scenery wasn't like I remembered from my last trip with Phoebe. Instead of the land getting more hilly, everything was flattening out into dull plains.

"Hey Thalia?" I asked, not really wanting to question her sense of direction, but feeling worried nonetheless. "What direction are we heading?"

"East, I think." she said, looking at the sun and then me.

I looked at the sky. We were running towards the setting sun, which didn't seem right.

"The sun sets in the West, right?" I asked, looking at her carefully.

"Yeah, so that means we're-" she stopped dead in her tracks. I didn't stop in time, and I wasn't looking as I smashed into a tree. I collided with a thud, and I fell to the ground. Groaning, I got up from the forest floor. And then, with both my face and my pride hurting, I walked back to where Thalia was standing, looking horrified.

"I can't believe I led us wrong! This is so bad! Artemis is going to demote me for sure! How could I have been so idiotic?" she muttered, looking at me in despair.

"Okay," I said, thinking of a plan. I'm always in trouble with Artemis, but that doesn't mean Thalia has to be. "this is what happened. You tried to lead, but I insisted that I could do it. When you tried to tell me that I was going the wrong way, I didn't listen. Finally, you shocked me to my senses. Deal?"

She frowned. "She'll be really mad at you. I don't want you to face her wrath to protect me," she said, shaking her head.

"Whatever! I make her mad on a daily basis! I actually enjoy it! Really, once I get to camp she'll be popping in to punish me every other day. I'm not going to make her job easy for her. So if I take the fall for one more thing it won't be a big deal. Seriously, let me take the fall." I insisted exasperatedly.

She didn't look convinced, but I turned around and took off running, this time actually going the right way. We passed the same trees, but I was getting tired. Eventually, after running for another hour or so, I had to stop. My knees were burning, and my lungs felt like I was inhaling sandpaper.

Thalia stopped beside me, but she was barely winded.

"How -pant- the pronk -pant- are you not -pant- even tired?" I asked, doubling over. My breath was coming in sharp gasps, and I felt really out of shape. It's like soccer season all over again.

"About 20 years of constant exercise and discipline. Plus, I run more than once a year," she said with a smirk.

I stuck my tongue out at her and sat down on a log. She pulled me up after a couple seconds, to my utter disgust.

"I'm tired!" I whined as we took off running again. My knee was still hurting, so I was more limping than running. We passed through the same patch of trees that we had passed earlier.

Finally, we got to the Hunter's Camp. We skirted around it, but I wanted to stop. I don't care how mad Artemis is. I'm exhausted and pretty grumpy.

I tried to subtly angle towards the camp, but Thalia shocked me. I guess the more she woke up the more she regained her lieutenant attitude.

Eventually, right when I was about to just fall over and sleep, we saw camp. Thalia stopped at the borders, and I quickly backtracked.

"We aren't allowed onto Camp property. Not after what happened last time. Bye. IM me if you need help." Thalia said, not even waiting for me to respond.

Shaking my head, I walked back to my cabin. Everything was in order, with all the bunks in their normal places. I set my backpack on the floor and collapsed into bed.

"Why is the sun so pronking bright?" I muttered as I turned over to cover my eyes.

"Umm.. It's noon. You should probably get up." I heard a voice say.

"Gargle!" I slurred as I rolled off the bed. At least I woke up in a bed this time. Willow was standing in the doorway, looking alarmed.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she walked over to me and helped me up from the ground.

I nodded, and stretched. "What's up?"

"You should get dressed so we can go to lunch. You must be starving!"

Still half-asleep, I took a quick shower and put on some clean clothes.

She led me to a huge pavilion that I had somehow not noticed before, and we walked inside. There were about a hundred campers talking and eating and milling about. As soon as I walked in, a hushed silence swept through the room. I just love it when that happens.

**AN2: So, I wasn't going to continue this story, but I realized how much fun I had writing it. Sorry if its choppy, but ill need some time to get back into my writing groove. Thanks for all your patience and reviews make me do a happy dance! PS, you should check out Turtlefoot's story. Just saying. Thanks, and gods bless!**


	18. ParentOlympian Conference

********

AN: I'm trying to get back on track, but my brain's going kinda whack.

"Come on Emily. The line starts here." Willow muttered as she pulled me over to the buffet table that was set up. There was a huge fire pit in the middle, which didn't really make a whole lot of sense. And why do people keep throwing food in there? The room steadily grew noisier, so everyone must have gotten over the shock of seeing me (or they were talking about gnomes. It's always possible).

There was so much food that for a second I just stood there. Hotdogs, mashed potatoes, beans, steak, salad, and pizza were just several of the many, many options. The selection was truly shocking. I grabbed some salad and followed Willow to an empty silver table.

"Hey! Silver for Artemis," I muttered to Willow.

"Umm all the tables are silver. They're made of steel." she replied, making me feel slow.

"So, what happened? Ward told me that you hugged him, and then your mom came, and I'm totally confused. Can you fill me in? If you're allowed that is." she said, looking down at her tray.

I chuckled and told her my story, leaving out some of the more intense things. She was a really good audience, congratulating me on my sweet flipping move. Her eyes widened and she gasped in sympathy when I told her about what Ares and Aphrodite did to Artemis. (Have you ever noticed how many Greek gods' names start with an "A"?) Finally, I told her about Artemis's escape (not mistake) and then my rescue.

"So, yeah." I concluded, twisting my back to stretch. All of the other campers had left, but that didn't bother me in the slightest. Too many people had been blatantly listening to our conversation for my liking. Willow and I got up and threw our trash away.

"Well, I guess we should-" Willow stopped suddenly. Right outside the tent, there were 5 or 6 angry campers.

"Hey guys," I said, looking around casually. All of the campers were wearing red of some kind, whether it was a red shirt, red shorts, red battle helmet… Wait. That last one can't be-

"Shut it. We didn't come here to hear your opinion. We came here to lay down some ground rules. Our parents don't like each other, but that doesn't mean we have to be enemies. So, as long as you stay away from us and only come out at night, everything will be peachy. Agreed?" asked one girl, who kinda looked like a wrestler. A male wrestler.

I snorted. If I can take on (and lose to) an Olympian, then there's no way that a couple bullies are going to mess with me. Before I crushed their little egos, I decided to play along.

"Wh-who ar-re you guys?" I stuttered, looking terrified. Olympus knows I've had enough experience.

The leader smirked and tossed her head. "I'm Adrestia, daughter of Ares. To my right you have Anteros, another child of Ares." Anteros was a vaguely unpleasant looking guy, and his blood-red battle armor didn't really make him look like a friendly person. "To my left you have Eryx and Cecilia, daughters of Aphrodite." They were very pretty, but kind of snobbish looking. Plus, one was doing her nails during this conversation. "And in the very back, you have Seamus, son of Hebe for some reason. Why are you here Seamus?" she asked, turning to look at him.

He looked around, confused. "I don't really know."

He walked away. That was odd.

"Anyway," Adrestia continued, shaking her head. "do you agree or not?"

I pretended to consider it, ignoring Willow's panicked look. "Which answer would you prefer? When Hades freezes over, or when our parents get along?" I asked with a sarcastic grin.

Adrestia and her gang of thugs scowled and cracked their knuckles. "Let me make this clear. I wasn't really asking."

"Let me make this opaque. I am not scared of you or your little band of girl scouts. And yes, I mean offence Anteros," I said, smirking. He immediately turned a shocking shade of red, and he had a dull red glow covering him. Well, his dad is Ares after all.

Adrestia took a step towards me and I notices for the first time how tall she was. Curse you small bone structure!

"Beat it Satyr." one of the easily interchangeable Aphrodite girls spat, putting down her nail polish and scowling.

Willow took off, sprinting in terror without a look back, a fact which didn't exactly make me a happy camper. I'm pretty sure there was a pun intended.

"Perhaps we need to convince you," Adrestia said, taking another step towards me. I tried to back away, but I was backed against the pavilion wall. So, I tried Plan B: Keep them talking until a counselor comes.

"Before we get to the convincing, can you explain a little about camp? This is my first time," I said, putting on my innocent face (which I don't use very often).

Adrestia frowned and looked at me, confused. "What do you mean 'explain about camp'? What's there to explain?"

"Just…ummm…. activities?" I trailed off hopefully.

Adrestia didn't buy it.

"Well, there is one activity I really enjoy. It's called "Beat the Hunter's Kid". In fact, let's play a round right now. I'll go first," she said, taking another step towards me.

"Let's not and say we didn't." I suggested.

She didn't respond, but her cronies formed a half-circle around me.

'This is proving problematic,' I thought looking around. Adrestia raised her fist, and I took a deep breath, trying to get ready to dodge the blow and scamper off like a scared kangaroo.

In mid-swing, she stopped. In fact, everyone stopped. Except for me.

I heard someone run up from behind the Ares/Aphrodite kids.

"Come on Emily! We need to get out of here! I can't hold them much longer," my knight in an green t-shirt said urgently. Oh wait. It's Ward. "Let's move!"

He pulled me past the A/A campers and we ran all the way to the lake. It looks much different with sunlight instead of moonlight.

Ward slowed down and exhaled sharply, leaning against a tree for support.

"Are you okay? Willow told me that they were harassing you," he asked as soon as he regained his breath.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I assured him, loving the fact that I could talk to him without severe pain. That usually puts a damper on conversations.

"Good." he said as he laid down on the grass. "So, how have you been?"

"Ehh, not bad. A little war here, a little torture there. Not new," I joked as I laid down next to him, being sure not to touch.

He chuckled and I told him my tale, maybe down-playing my terror a little bit. No big deal.

"Hey! I know what we should do! We should prank those Ares kids! How long can you stop time for?" I asked, getting excited.

His face turned a shade paler than normal, but bravely replied, "However long you need me to."

"Excellent." I sighed happily, planning my elaborate revenge.

-A SHORT TIME LATER-

"YOU DID _WHAT_?" Artemis's shriek literally made my ears bleed.

Perhaps a little explanation will prevent you guys from cussing me out in PM.

Dionysus, the centaur, Artemis, Ward and I were all sitting in some random room of the Big House. Well, Mr. D was sitting. Ward and I were cowering in our chairs while Centaur was trying to block Artemis's view so she couldn't get a clear shot at us. Yeah, that's more accurate.

Any way, on with the show.

"They led a little 'expedition' into the Ares' cabin. The damages were severe." Dionysus said with a yawn.

Artemis's eyes narrowed, and she walked up to me.

__

"Are you ready?" I asked Ward as we snuck over to the blood-red cabin. The moon was high in the sky, and I could feel its extra strength pulsing through me.

"Oh yeah!" Ward exclaimed, practically shaking with excitement. He was wearing all black but for some reason I could still see him clearly.

We snuck up to the cabin, and Ward did his Hiro Nakamura thing, trapping the entire Ares cabin in their dreams. I opened the door cautiously and looked around. No one was awake. Perfect.

You see, Ward and I had a plan. We figured that when he stopped time, everyone stopped in the middle of what they were doing, whether it be moving, threatening, etc. So, if all the Ares kids were sleeping, they would stay asleep. Plus, it would be easier for Ward to keep them there. Simple.

"So," I muttered quietly to myself. "bunk beds or ceiling first? Bunk beds. Definitely." Then I got to work.

It was kinda scary, knowing that I was one exhausted time stopper away from utter annihilation at the hands of a dozen furious Ares kids.

Finally, when all the screws were in their unrightful location, started I work on the ceiling.

Eventually, my masterpiece was completed. I stepped back and put my small blade down.

"YOU CARVED 'Cabin 8: 1 Ares Cabin: 0?' ONTO THE CEILING?" she thundered, glowing hot silver.

"There's more," the centaur said, looking at me apologetically.

__

I gathered up all of their stuff that I could (even borrowing someone's bag) and headed towards the lake.

"One," I said, grabbing one of the bags.

"Two," Ward continued, grabbing a pile of magazines that I had found.

"Three!" We said together, throwing the stuff into the lake. There was a huge Splash! but no one came running.

Laughing, we went back to the tree and congratulated each other. After the laughter died away, I started to wonder.

"Why did you lead that raid? The one that killed all those people?" I asked, looking to make sure he wasn't offended.

He wasn't. "Well, it's a long story, but I'll tell you if you really want to know." I nodded, so he started his tale.

"It all begins when I was little. As you know, Kronos is my dad. We never really connected, probably due to the fact that he scared my mother away and hated me. Oh, he tried to bond with me, he did. But a little game of 'Murder the Civilians' isn't exactly fun when you're five years old. That was when the nightmares started. As I got older, I started to pull away from him more and more. He was still waging war on the gods, so he wasn't home much. But when he was home, he was always in the worst moods. Do you know how terrifying it is for a 'time-out' to literally mean 'taken out of time'? Once, I messed up all the clocks in the house and he froze me for a week. No one could see me, and I couldn't see them. I was trapped and alone and practically dead before he remembered and let me out of my time-cage. After that, once he realized how much that had freaked me out, it became his main form of punishment.

Then again, he wasn't all-bad. After he won the war, his visits were always more pleasant, and I began to believe that, maybe just maybe, he wasn't so bad after all. He trained me to sword-fight and to control my powers. I remember being really jealous because he could travel through time (only forward) and I could barely stop time. Then, once he surrendered to the Olympians and I heard about the deal he had made, I felt like there was still a chance that he could come back. I felt like I owed him that much." Ward finished, looking at the sunrise.

"But why did you have to kill all those people?" I asked.

"It wasn't me. It was some of my dad's followers that went a little crazy. I tried to-"

Ward was cut off my a furious shout and a loud crashing noise that seemed to come from the Ares cabin. We looked at each other for a second, and took off running, trying to find the farthest part of camp.

Crouching down behind some bushes, Ward smiled and said, "It was nice knowing you."

"You too," I said and we shook hands. A sharp blast of cold air appeared behind us, and Dionysus teleported us back to our cabin where Artemis was there, looking extremely angry.

"So," Mr. D said. "due to the extreme extent of the damages, she's been kicked out of Camp." Utter silence permeated the room after this particular announcement.

I was speechless. Am I really that awesome?

Artemis seemed to be struggling with something different.

"She's been kicked out? She is the first camper to ever behave disgracefully enough to get kicked out of camp?" she spat out, sucking all the light out of the room, leaving us in a creepy pitch darkness.

"Yep. What a way to celebrate my 49th year, eh? Anyway, you have one hour to remove her from the grounds."

"Or what?" Artemis spat, glaring at him.

"Or you can take her place here and she can go to Olympus, so says our father, Lord Zeus." Dionysus said with a smirk.

Artemis glared at him and walked out, pulling me with her.

"You are so" she proceeded to switch to Ancient Greek for a couple words. "dead."

****

AN2: So, hopefully you like this chapter more than the last one. Reviews equal love!


	19. Daddy's Home

AN: This story has not reached it's end, and I hope your forgiveness to me you will lend. Warning: Spoilers for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I would have omitted it, but words, I don't like to mince.

**I gulped and took a reflexive step back. **

**"Listen. We're both reasonable gals. You attack me, I get kicked out of camp. How about we let bygones-" I tried to reason with her, but she cut me off. **

**Artemis stuck her hand out and my throat closed up. It's pretty scary when your mother takes a leaf out of Darth Vader's book. It's a horrible book. **

**I tried clawing at the invisible hand around my throat, but it was no use. I started to feel like I was falling through a tunnel. Then, saw someone charge at Artemis and tackle her. **

**"Run!" Ward yelled at me as he turned to face her. Feeling like the biggest coward in the world, I ran like a gazelle. **

**The fear and adrenaline of knowing what would happen when she caught up to me made me run faster than anyone has ever run (or so I'm guessing). My brain went on autopilot, and the scenery became a blur. It was getting dark, so I tried to find civilization. **

**Panting, with my poor excuses for abs burning, I looked around and- BOOM! **

**An explosion lit up the sky to my right. I dropped to the ground, thinking that someone was shooting at me for some reason. Then I heard a crowd ooh-ing and Ahh-ing and the fizzle of burned out fireworks, and I felt vaguely ridiculous. **

**Desperate for whatever protection a crowd could offer, I dashed towards where the fireworks had originated. **

**Breaking through the last of the trees, I stumbled into a clearing with about 200 people in it. **

**Knowing that Ward couldn't have distracted her for long, I quickly ran towards the biggest clump of people I could find. I weaved around the little kids frolicking around with flags, and ran to the center. **

**In the very center of the audience there was a collection of kids my age, and I dashed towards where they were, ignoring the looks they were giving the weird teenage girl wearing camouflage with tears all over it. Just as I collapsed on the ground in exhaustion, severe pain wracked my body and I could hear Artemis's voice in my head. **

**"I'm coming for you." **

**I erupted into goose bumps, and I jumped to my feet to look around. A brilliant blue firework shaped like a star exploded in the sky, and with it's light I saw a silvery figure emerge from the woods, on the opposite side of the clearing. **

**Again, she invaded my brain, and this time she showed me a horrifying image. **

**Ward was bleeding in a hospital bed, and Mr. D was yelling and ordering people around, looking frantic. Chiron was wrapping up what looked like a shattered shinbone. Suddenly, I was shaking and I couldn't stop. She was going to do the same thing to me. **

**I saw her look around, and she strolled towards the back of the clearing, probably so she would be less conspicuous. A scarlet, sphere-shaped firework made the entire clearing look like it was doused in blood, a fact that I didn't like one bit. **

**"You have 1 minute to reveal yourself before I start killing innocents." her voice pounded through me and I winced at the pain of it. At this point, I hadn't slept for about 36 hours, so it wasn't a huge shocker that my senses weren't working too well. **

**"You're bluffing." I thought out quietly, testing the cursed connection. **

**"Try me. 59. 58." her voice confirmed the reality of my situation, and I knew that I was in serious trouble. **

**Always the martyr, I stood up and started walking towards the back, knowing full well that I was marching to my death. The awful thing was, I could picture Artemis cutting people down left and right until I revealed myself. **

**Finally, I saw her, standing off by herself (shocker). With knees quaking, I took my final steps towards her. **

**"1. I guess you aren't as big of a moron as I thought. Now, we have a score to settle." she grabbed my shoulder, and suddenly, we were in a different clearing. I was disorientated by the sudden change in scenery and there were trees on every side of me, so I had no idea where we were. Great. **

**Artemis was about 10 ft away, and she waved her hands. Something appeared at my feet **

**It was a sword. I picked it up, using one hand, then two. Swords are really pronking heavy! **

**"What?" I asked, confused. I thought this was going to be a murder, not a fencing lesson. **

**"I fight fair. Prepare to die." she said. A sword appeared in her hand, and she charged me. **

**The first thing that went through my mind was "This most definitely isn't a fencing lesson." **

**The second thought was "Hades she's strong!" **

**She swung at me, and I was knocked back at least a foot, onto my back. I laid there, certain she was going to stab me while I was down. **

**"Get up." she ordered, standing over me. **

**"I'll pass." I said, not wanting to prolong my experience. **

**A bright silver glow appeared around her, and she placed her sword directly over my heart. **

**"Get up." **

**Groaning, I got to my feet and faced her again. **

**Her eyes lit up and my life flashed before my eyes (man I played a lot of video games). She attacked rapidly, flowing from move to move so quickly that I didn't have time to counter any of them. It's times like this that I was the daughter of Zeus, or Poseidon, or a god that was famous for sword fighting. Then my reflexes could conveniently kick in and I could avoid being sliced and diced. **

**I thought I would be dead within the first few moments, but she was only hitting me with the flat of her blade, leaving monster bruises everywhere the sword touched (which was everywhere. At once.). **

**Finally, desperate, I swung at her middle, twisting to the side at the last second possible to try to get her to drop her sword. To my utter shock and horror, I managed to cut her hand, enough for golden ichor to seep out. **

**We stood frozen for a second, staring at her hand, and then she slowly looked up at me. Her eyes had gone completely black and I could feel unadulterated fury radiating from her. **

**Everything I had gone through before this was nothing compared to the terror I felt now. **

**Artemis's silver aura was replaced with a midnight black one, and I could only see her silhouette against the starry night sky. **

**My hands were shaking so badly that I dropped my sword and backed away. **

**"I didn't mean to! I'm so-" **

**Artemis yelled, and it wasn't an ordinary yell. It sounded like every wild animal in the world was roaring with her, and shock flooded through my mind. An explosion seemed to come from her, and I was thrown backwards, into a tree about 20 feet away from where I had been standing. Ouch. **

**I heard a crack somewhere in my general spine area and felt my arms and legs go numb, and my vision started to go blurry. Seeing her stomp towards me with her black eyes, I whispered with the last of my energy, "Lord Zeus, save me!" **

**Nothing happened, and I slumped back, into the tree. **

**And then I died. **

**Okay, I didn't die. But, man did it hurt. **

**I awoke later to the burning of every square inch of my back. **

**The pain consumed my mind for a while, but eventually I could understand the noises around me. It sounded like two people arguing, and I tried to focus. **

**"'Mysterious Explosion in Woods: Ongoing Police Investigation.' 'Strange Lights coming from Forest, Terrorist Plot Suspected.' Do you have any idea how stupid, no, how utterly moronic you behaved? She gets kicked out of camp, and so you almost blow our cover? It's a miracle you didn't kill her! What were you thinking?" a man's voice yelled, and I guessed that he had been reading newspaper headlines. **

**The other person sighed. "I just lost control. Is father really that angry?" **

**"'Angry'? Of course he's angry! He might make you mortal for this one! And then how will you deal with Aphrodite?" **

**Artemis (of course it was her) sighed again, and I opened my eyes to see her rubbing her forehead. **

**The other person saw me, and I recognized him as Apollo. **

**"Emily! You're awake!" he exclaimed, rushing over to the side of the bed I was lying in. I recognized the room as one of the standard Olympian-brand ones, so I guessed I was back on Olympus. This won't end well. **

**"What happened?" I muttered, still groggy. **

**Apollo shot a quick glare at Artemis and said "Well, after my idiotic sibling lost control, my dad heard you call out and he sent me to rescue you. He wants to see you two in the throne room as soon as possible. Do you think you can walk?" **

**I attempted to smile. "I can barely breathe." **

**Apollo frowned and let his hands hover over me. The pain from my back lessened a lot, but I guess it was so bad even the god of healing couldn't completely fix me. **

**"If I carry you, can you manage?" he asked, standing up. **

**Nodding, I tried to sit up in my bed. Gasping, I collapsed back into my bed. **

**Sending a death glare at Artemis, he picked me up and carried me out the door. **

**I could tell that he was trying to be gentle, but my back burned at every slightest bump, which really took away from the experience. **

**We walked down what seemed like a never-ending hallway and I saw Artemis following behind us, reluctantly. **

**Finally, we got to the throne room. Zeus was sitting in his throne, but the rest of them were empty. Apollo snapped and a chair appeared, which he sat me down on. **

**"Dismissed, Apollo." Zeus said, not taking his eyes off of Artemis. Artemis's fury at me for getting expelled paled in comparison to the rage that was pouring from Zeus's eyes. **

**"My lord." Apollo said as he bowed out, shutting the door with an ominous clang. **

**"So, daughter," Zeus said, making it sound like the worst thing in the world. "what excuse do you have for almost revealing yourself to the mortals? Or do you even have one?" **

**Artemis flinched at his tone and tried to explain herself. Halfway through her tale, Zeus cut her off with a wave of his hand. **

**"You couldn't have possibly chosen a worse time to do this. First the Aphrodite thing, now this? What am I going to do with you?" Now he sounded more like a dad than a cruel tyrant, which is usually preferable "I think there is only one option. They are going to demand that you disband the Hunters." **

**Whatever Artemis had expected, it appeared that it wasn't nearly as horrifying to her as this. She turned a ghostly white and fell to her knees. **

**"No! No! Father you can't do that! I'll do anything! Anything!" she begged, and I made a mental note to mock her later when I wasn't half unconscious with pain. **

**Zeus sighed, looking more tired than I had seen anybody look, ever. "Fine. If you are so desperate, then you must agree to something else." **

**"Anything." Artemis promised rashly, and even I could tell that she was going to regret her words in a second. **

**"You and Emily will be joined by an empathy link for 2 months." **

**"What?" Artemis and I both yelled together. I don't even want to be in the same room as her, much less linked to her! Of course, they ignored me. **

**"You heard me. Now do it." **

**"Please, father. Don't make me do this. Send me to the Furies if you want, but not this!" **

**Zeus frowned at the suggestion of feeding his daughter to Hades's minions. **

**"It's either this or disband the Hunters. Your choice." **

**There was silence as Artemis considered it. Then, suddenly, she placed her hand on my head, ignoring my violent spasm, and started murmuring under her breath. Then, a new, foreign feeling swept through me. It felt like another person was sharing my body, and I didn't like it one bit. **

**On the plus side, my back hurt a lot less. I turned to ask Zeus what the platypus had just happened, and I noticed Artemis wincing. **

**The hamster wheels in my head started turning. I quickly straightened up, ignoring the agony. Artemis gasped and slowly rose to her feet. **

**I grinned, too overjoyed to speak. **

**Finally, I could get her back for all the pain she had caused me. Testing how well it would work, I twisted to the side. I groaned and she twitched violently. My back felt like it was being hit by a cannon, but I was having too much fun to stop now. **

**I was about to try to stand, until I saw her face, a strange mixture of anger and fear (which is how I must look like, like, all the time). **

**Immediately, I felt like an awful person, which made me kinda mad. She had had good reasons (sometimes) for all the garbage she put me through, and she had tried to protect me from the worst of it. And now, when I could finally pay her back, my stupid conscience made me feel bad for it! Where is the justice in that? **

**I sat back down, and she relaxed a little. **

**"It seems you two have reached a agreement." Zeus, who had been watching my internal struggle with great interest, said. "Now, that only leaves us with one question. What do we do with you?" **

**That question had obviously been stumping the gods for a while. Camp was out, and I didn't really want to go back anyway. I'm sure my old school would have some questions for me regarding the mysterious disappearance of Ms. Lynch, and I didn't have any answers that wouldn't end up with me in a padded cell. **

**"Can I go home?" I asked, remembering that my dad would be back from his business trip this month. **

**Zeus and Artemis, who had been talking in Greek, turned to look at me like they had forgotten I was there. **

**"Your home? Why would you want to go there?" Zeus asked like it was the most ridiculous thing in the world. **

**"Because I have a dad who loves me..." I said, using my "that's a stupid question" voice (I love that voice. Surprisingly, teachers don't appreciate the humor.) **

**Zeus seemed to consider it. "Well, I really don't have any other ideas that don't involve a quest..." he trailed off hopefully, like he wished that I would choose that option. **

**My last questing experience left my vaguely cationic, so I quickly shook my head. **

**"But your father won't be there for 3 more days. You'll need someone to help you as you heal. Artemis, you will take that role." **

**Artemis frowned and I said "Could anyone else do it? Someone less prone to exploding in fits of rage?" **

**She gave me a dirty look and turned to Zeus. **

**"It shall be as you command, father. Thank you." With that she strode out of the room. **

**Which left Zeus and I in an awkward silence. **

**Uncomfortable, I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind "How does Hera feel about all of this?" **

**Zeus frowned, and I mentally kicked myself for bringing her up. "Well, Hera wanted me to disband the Hunters. Her and Artemis have never really gotten along, and this was her final straw. So, how does it feel to be the first child of Artemis?" He leaned his chin on his hands in a very grandfathery pose. He probably had a lot of practice. **

**I sort of half-chuckled half-grimaced. "It's okay, sometimes. Except for all the abductions, arguments, explosions, etc." **

**He laughed and looked at his watch. "Well, I would love to sit and chat, but I have pressing engagements elsewhere. Have Apollo patch you up, and then you may go home. And don't abuse your new link. Remember, it's only for two months, and we Olympians hold grudges." With that, he snapped his fingers and I was teleported to the room I had woken up in. **

**I laid there for a couple seconds, and then I tried to stand. **

**Before I knew it, Artemis was back in the room and she pushed me back down. **

**"Don't do that." she ordered, and I remembered that she felt the same stuff I did. "Yes. And two months is going to be over quickly, don't forget." **

**It sounded like one of her typical threats, but it lacked the menacing undertone that usually accompanied a statement like this. In fact, she seemed like a zombie of her former self. **

**"Where's Apollo?" I asked, not fully relaxing in case I got a chance to stand again. **

**Artemis didn't bother to answer, but she just looked at the door, expectantly. **

**Sure enough, Apollo walked in, whistling a merry tune. **

**"So, ready to be patched up?" he asked, much happier than he had been before. "Well, now that I don't have to worry about my baby sister, I'm a lot less stressed." **

**Artemis muttered something along the lines of "I'm older," but Apollo ignored her. **

**He let his hands hover over me, and my back cracked again, to the agony of Artemis and I. **

**"Sorry, but it was going to heal all funky. Artemis used her energy in the blast, and some of that bad mojo is still in you, which is why your back hurts. You should be fine in a couple of days or so if you take it easy. And no goddesses try to break you." he said, staring pointedly at Artemis, who had the decency to look abashed. **

**"Let's go Emily. Thank you Apollo." she said, hugging Apollo goodbye. Then she laid her hand on my shoulder and we disappeared. The vacuumy sensation was becoming commonplace. **

**We arrived in my living room and I looked around. Same old blue walls. Same old leather couch. Same old plasma screen tv. It's good to be home. **

**I hobbled over to the couch and laid down, setting a pillow up to make myself comfortable. Artemis was looking around uncomfortably, like she didn't belong here. **

**"When were you here last?" I asked, watching her closely. **

**"A couple years ago. Wild animals kept appearing in your backyard and your father asked me to keep them away. One thing led to another and we-" **

**I covered my ears. "For the hatred of Hades please do not complete that sentence." **

**She rolled her eyes. "I was going to say that we argued and I left." **

**"Didn't you want to see me?" I asked, trying to be casual. **

**She frowned. "Of course I did. I popped my head in your door and saw you asleep. I didn't want to wake you." **

**"You saw me asleep once, and that was enough for you? You are officially the worst mom ever. How could you just forget about your only daughter?" I sat up angrily, and didn't even notice the pain. **

**"Well, I'm busy! I can't let one little mistake-" she stopped mid-sentence, but the damage was done. **

**"Get out." I ordered, my voice as cold as granite. "Get out of my house." **

**She didn't move and I stood. "Leave." **

**Something in my voice made her narrow her eyes, but she walked to the door. "I'll be back when you've had time to calm down." **

**And she left, without so much as an apology. Furious, I stormed to the back door, determined to be far away before she came back. And then the door shocked me. **

**"I pronking hate you!" I yelled, knowing she could hear. **

**Stomping off to the couch, I threw myself down angrily. I grabbed the remote and the news appeared on the screen. **

**"Heat Waves across Northern New York," the anchoress said, and I relaxed. Before I knew it, I was asleep. **

"**Artemis? What are you doing here? Where's Emily? If she's hurt, I'll kill-" my dad's angry voice came from the hallway, and I turned over so I could see when he entered. I saw two shadows and then I heard Artemis interrupt him. **

**"Be extremely careful how you finish that sentence, mortal. Your daughter is on the couch, in one piece." **

**I heard footsteps and I hastily pretended to be asleep, knowing I would hear more this way. **

**"Where has she been these last few months? All I heard was that she had disappeared from school with two other students! You gods in all your 'infinite wisdom' couldn't send me a lousy letter? I've been out of my mind with worry! Maybe you care nothing for her, but she does have a parent who actually loves her!" At this point he was yelling, and I knew that Artemis wouldn't take much more of it. **

**Sure enough, "You aren't the only one who's been looking out for her! When she was trapped in Aphrodite's dungeon, I didn't see you rushing in to help! I had to introduce to the Olympian world, and I think I did a Hades of a job! If you so much as think that I'm a bad parent again, I'll change you into a rat!" **

**"She was kidnapped?" my dad's voice had a new level of anger that I hadn't ever heard before. "Was anyone planning on informing me of this?" **

**From the shadows, I could see that Artemis was pacing back and forth. **

**"It wasn't a big deal. I had it under control." **

**"Oh, I'm sure. You don't even have yourself under control." my dad spat. **

**"You little-" Artemis flung out her hand and my dad was thrown backwards into a wall. **

**"Dad!" I yelled as I jumped to my feet and ran to him. He wasn't unconscious, and he smiled when he saw me. **

**"Hey Emily. Been strengthening up for softball?" he weak attempt at a joke distracted me from the imminent danger that he was in. **

**"Oh yeah," I joked "I've been putting in a solid 15 hours a day." **

**Artemis coughed, and I turned to face her, shielding my dad, who was struggling to get up. **

**"Go to your room Emily. Your father and I have some things to discuss." Artemis ordered, as if she knew where my room was. **

**I scoffed. "No. You can't just stroll into my house and start hurting my dad. You'll have to kill me before I let you hurt him." I challenged, completely serious. **

**Artemis smiled, a nasty half-smile that made my back twitch. "You can't beat me. You will never beat me. Now GO!" **

**To my horror, my legs followed her command, and I inadvertently walked out of the living room and into my room. **

**I lunged for my door, but it wouldn't open. **

**"Curse you to the darkest depths of Hades." I muttered, resorting to listening through the door. **

**"Why are you here Artemis?" I heard my dad ask with a sigh, like she was one of his college students who had bothered him for weeks about a grade. Man, that was specific. **

**Crouching down to look under the door, I saw him walk over and take a seat on the couch. **

**"Zeus ordered me to protect her until you get here. It's...complicated. I'll be in town for the next two months or so." she said, sitting at the table. I could picture my living room's layout in my mind's eye: the long L-shaped couch facing the huge tv, the chestnut table with a chair that always wobbled, the black **

**bookcase with all of our DVDs an video games, and the huge painting of some random people. But I couldn't picture Artemis in there. Artemis belonged in the outside, dangerous world, not in my happy safe haven from life's troubles. **

**"Listen, I don't know if it's a good idea for you to stay here. I can't have you cursing the neighbors for waking you up, and I certainly don't want to have another argument in front of Emily. So, here are the directions to the nearest park. Maybe you can cuddle with the deer or something." **

**I chuckled, but Artemis obviously didn't appreciate the humor. **

**"So that's where she gets her sarcasm. Ugh. And don't patronize me, mortal. Don't forget I could crush you in a second. Your life is a little candle that I can extinguish with a breath." This went on for some time. **

**Eventually, I was sick and tired of her putting my dad down, so I punched a wall, knowing she would feel it. **

**I was rewarded with a "Gah!" that matched my own. **

**I heard angry footsteps approach and I hopped to my feet. The door burst open, and Artemis stood there, glowing in the dim light. **

**"What did I tell you about abusing our link?" **

**There wasn't really a right answer, and I didn't remember what she had said, so I ignored her and went and sat on my bed. She sighed, and pulled my desk chair up to my bed's side. **

**"Listen. I'm sorry for losing control like that. I was just confused and angry and unsure of myself. I promise that won't happen again. Unless you really do something stupid. So, truce?" she asked hopefully, putting her hand out. **

**I frowned suspiciously. "Will you leave my dad alone from now on?" **

**Her eye twitched. "If he doesn't provoke me." **

**"You don't have to worry about that," my dad's voice floated in from the doorway. "One of her parents has control of themselves." **

**She rounded on him angrily. "You insolent-" **

**"Artemis! Stop! Just leave!" I said, pointing out the door. **

**With one last threatening glare, she disappeared. My dad breathed a sigh of relief. **

**"Your mother. She is something else, isn't she? Hey, I didn't get my hug." **

**I jumped up and ran into his arms. He was warm and I felt like nothing on earth could bother me as long as he was safe. **

**"Well, you're probably wiped. I know I am. I'll see you tomorrow honey. Love you." **

**"Love you too dad." I said as he turned off my lights and I snuggled into my blankets. **

_**I was walking along my road, alone, using the moon's light to guide me. I was whistling a tune, and then suddenly my legs froze, and I could feel a cold wind sweeping up behind me. I wanted to turn around, but I couldn't. Then Aphrodite walked in front of me. **_

_**"So, you think you're safe. You and your little daddy. Well, we have an old score to settle." she said, checking her nails. **_

_**"And I'm coming for you." Ares said casually as he strolled past me to link arms with Aphrodite. "And if you mention this little warning to Artemis, I'll kill him. And, to show how serious I am, here." he swiped his finger through the air, but a real cut appeared on my arm. It started burning like 100 bonfires, which seemed like overkill. **_

_**"Enjoy." Aphrodite said nastily as they faded out of sight**_**.**

**I woke up to an intense burning in my arm. My arm had been dangling over the side of my bed, so no blood had dripped onto my yellow sheets. **

**Still in my sleepy fog, I ambled to the bathroom and put a large Bandaid on my arm and collapsed back in my bed. **

**And then I died. **

**AN2: Sorry, I couldn't resist! **

I woke up the next morning with a killer case of bed head and a fuzzy recollection of my dream. So, I did my normal morning routine of stretching and grabbing some cereal.

My dad wasn't up yet, so I turned on my PS3 and started up Dynasty Warriors 6. After remembering how to play and going through a couple missions, my dad came, grabbed a controller and we played a couple co-op missions without talking, as was usual.

Eventually, "So, you got kidnapped?" he asked, button mashing like crazy.

I didn't look at him, but rather attacked some guy on a horse. "Yeah. Aphrodite wanted to get back at Artemis because of some old feud between them."

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

We played in silence for a couple minutes, finding the final boss, Lu Bu, (See the author's note in Softball and Swords for the outcome of this little adventure), until my dad said, "So, what do you want to do today?"

"How about we go for a 7 mile run, then go swimming, then go cut down some trees?" I suggested, putting my controller down and stretching. My back wasn't bothering me, so that's a plus.

"Sounds fun. How about we grab some lunch and then go see what's playing at the Castle?" The Castle is the most amazing movie theater in existence. Instead of chairs that you have to jump on to get them to stay down, the Castle has squishy armchairs arranged in groups of threes and fours.

The new Harry Potter was showing, and so my dad and I settled down in our usual spot.

The opening music came on and I settled in to enjoy the movie, hoping it didn't butcher the book too badly.

"Little chance of that," a voice next to me said. I turned to see Apollo sitting in the third chair to our set, glowing faintly in the theater's dim light. "Face forward. Your dad can't see or hear me, but he can still see you."

Following his advice, I muttered something about seeing something move to my dad and pretended to watch the movie.

"So, I hear Aphrodite entered into your dream last night." he said matter-of-factly, and it took all of my self control not to look at him. I did, however, widen my eyes in a shocked expression. "Hey, I'm the god of prophecy. I know things. And I came here to assure you that you aren't in any danger. Artemis and I have this covered. There's no way Ares or Aphrodite will get through us. So you can relax, little niece of mine. Well, I have to go. Any questions for me? I love spreading knowledge to those not as fortunate as I."

I snorted quietly and rolled my eyes, knowing he would see it.

"Well then, I'll see you later. PS: Dumbledore dies."

He said this last part in my voice loud enough for the entire room to hear. My dad frowned at me indignantly (he hadn't read the books) and I was assaulted by a chorus of "Boo"'s and thrown popcorn. I heard Apollo's laughter in my ear and then he was gone.

After the movie, my dad and I went home, and he took a nap, while I played some more DW6. It was almost like I had never left. Except for the empathy link, visits from my immortal relatives, and strange ability to glow. Minor details.

Presently, I heard a knocking coming from the door. I looked through the glass, only to see Ward standing there, looking like he was in one piece, which didn't fit the image Artemis had shown me.

"Ward!" I exclaimed, opening the door. "What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

He looked stunned to see me, and I guess I was pretty stunned to see him too.

I showed him in and he sat on the couch and I sat next to him.

"Mind telling me how you're alive? I thought Artemis was going to kill you!" Ward said, gesturing wildly with his hands.

"I was going to ask you the same question! After you saved my life, I owe you by the way, I just ran. I found a clearing with people in it, but then she found me, and we had a sword fight, and I accidentally cut her and she exploded and now I'm here." I concluded, not wanting to go into the whole story. "How did you survive?"

He had been staring at me with his mouth open, and he shook his head like he couldn't believe it. "Well, after I charged her and you ran away, she was mad. Olympian mad. My shoulder was hurting because, well, she's a goddess, and she punched me in the chest. I'm pretty sure she broke my collarbone, and she was going to go after you, so I threw a rock at her. It missed and she muttered something and I couldn't see. By the time the fog cleared, she was long gone. I limped to my cabin and scarfed down some ambrosia. Then, I walked to the nearest town. I saw the headlines about the explosion in the woods, and I thought you were dead. I came to tell your dad the bad news."

I pulled him to his feet and hugged him fiercely. It hurt, but a lot less than normal so I ignored it.

We enjoyed our moment of peace, until I heard a voice yell "EMILY MARIE WOLF!"

**AN3: So... about me not writing for a couple months... I don't really have a decent excuse, and I'm not going to insult your intelligences with a lie. And this chapter just kind of hit me, so I may not be updating again until the mood strikes. Thank you for all of your reviews (and your forgiveness?). Thanks, and gods bless! **


	20. Meet the Parents

**AN: Now, I don't usually type this callous, but in this chapter I released a lot of pent-up malice. **

Ward and I sprang apart, and he quailed under my dad's furious glare.

"You must be Mr. Wolf. I'm Ward." Ward said, sticking out his hand awkwardly to shake.

My dad looked at him coldly, and Ward quickly retracted his hand. Which was probably a good idea because my dad looked like he wanted to bite it off.

"So, how do you know my daughter?" my dad asked, crossing his arms and glowering at Ward.

I probably should have done this a while ago (like, last chapter), but here's a brief description of my father.

Richard Wolf is a 5'11, brown haired, blue eyed professor at NYU. He travels about an hour to work, and he works late, so it's rare to see him more than a couple of hours a week. Reading is something he enjoys, and he's the smartest person I know. Except, he has a bit of an anger problem. When he gets mad, he attacks with words, viciously, and his eyes build up so much fire that you can feel your temperature rising.

And this is Ward's first introduction to the (more) rational side of my family.

I frowned apologetically at Ward, who looked really, really uncomfortable.

"Sir, we went to school together. She was attacked by a dragon, but luckily Willow and I intervened in time. I escorted her to camp, where Artemis took over. But we did play a pretty sweet prank on the Ares Cabin." he grinned at me, and we high-fived quickly.

It hurt, and not because he swung too hard. It hurt like the first time Artemis had-

"EMILY MARIE WOLF!" To my horror, Artemis appeared and stood next to my father. "You..." she said, summoning her bow and aiming an arrow at Ward.

"Artemis, stop!" I ordered, jumping between her and Ward.

"I take a nap for one hour and you bring a boy into the house? Unacceptable! I will not have groping in my house!" my dad yelled, spittle flying from his mouth. Seriously, it's like he didn't even listen to Ward's story!

Artemis turned to look at him and then she turned the approximate color of lava.

"'Groping?' I'll kill you boy!" she roared and tried to shove me out of the way. I'm surprised she didn't just explode again.

I quickly scowled at my dad and hurried to explain, "We weren't groping! We were just

hugging!"

"You think you can come into MY house and make-out with my daughter? She's only 13!" my dad yelled, looking like he was going to hurt something. I pity the fool who makes my daddy mad.

"I'm 15! Come on, dad!" I said in exasperation. "We weren't even kissing!"

There were a couple moments of silence, and Ward slowly backed away from my angry

parents. Somewhere in the confused tangle of my mind it occurred to me that this was the first time my dad and Artemis were agreeing with each other. Unfortunately, they were agreeing to maim one of my only friends. Man, I'm pathetic.

And then it all went downhill.

"Richard! How could you let this happen? The second I step out of the house you let a boy in? I thought fathers were supposed to protect their daughters! What are men good for anyway?"

I sighed, recognizing the beginning of a fight, a real doozy too.

"What?" my dad asked incredulously. "Before you came and screwed everything up,

everything was normal! Now she's bringing boys over and seeing ghosts in movie theaters! Why couldn't you pass on your vow of chastity to her instead of your flagrant rule-breaking?" he yelled, pounding his hand on the table, probably bruising his hand.

"Oh gods," I heard Ward mutter as Artemis looked at my father. Artemis looked beyond furious. She started blurring around the edges, which I hadn't seen in a while, and I guess in her struggle with control, her grip on her arrow slipped.

The arrow flew, and struck me in the right shoulder.

I would repeat what I said next, because this fanfic isn't rated high enough for an endless stream of profanity. Plus, for you kiddies out there, SWEARING IS BAD!

Artemis screamed and grabbed her own shoulder, which didn't have a bloody arrow sticking out of it, so she had no reason to complain. I started thrashing around, trying to tear it out, until I froze, in time.

Actually, I was probably doing more harm by moving, so it was a good thing that Ward restrained me. Even if it did hurt my pride a little bit. Okay, a lot.

"Artemis! Stop writhing and do something!" my dad shouted, freaked out at the sight of blood.

Artemis narrowed her eyes against the pain, and walked towards me. I couldn't move my mouth but, rest assured, I was calling her names in my mind that would have made my grandmother turn over in her grave (not Hera. Oh carp she's my grandmother? Stupid family tree.)

She broke off the feathered end of the arrow, and pulled the other end out of me, leaving a nasty, gaping hole in my shoulder.

Ward's power must be truly incredible, because my blood was stopped from flowing out of the new, unexpected piercing. Maybe now I can hang out with the goth kids at school!

Artemis threw the arrow down, and passed her hand over my shoulder. The skin healed up, but my insides were still jacked up so no relief there.

Ward unfroze me, and helped me to the couch, where I collapsed in agony. Artemis fell right next to me, but I was in too much pain to swipe at her like I wanted to.

My dad ran off, and I thought he was going to pass out or something, but he came back with a bottle of Tylenol and a glass of water. He gave me two, and I chugged the entire glass.

Meanwhile, Ward was frantically looking around for something. He rustled through drawers and looked under the couch cushions.

"Where do you keep your drachmas?" he asked, turning to look at my dad, who was still looking at the bloody spot on the floor with a sick look on his face. "Mr. Wolf?"

My dad snapped out of the fog he was apparently in, and shook his head "We need to get her to the hospital."

Artemis growled something and I winced again. It felt like there was an icy knife twisting in my shoulder, which is not a good place for an icy knife to be.

Ward looked at my dad like he had gone crazy. "Sir, how on Earth are we going to explain an arrow wound that you can't see? We need Apollo for this, at least!"

"Well, well. what have we here?"

The room seemed to freeze as Ares and Aphrodite walked in, the bad kind of freezing.

Ares was dressed up in his battle armor. His bright red plume on his helmet made him look like the Devil's less cool younger brother, but his polished bronze armor was pretty sweet. In an "Oh gods not this nonsense again" kind of way.

"Who are you guys?" my dad asked, wondering why Artemis had jumped to her feet and raised her bow to aim at Ares's face.

"This must be your father. Pleased to meet you, unfortunate mortal. Oh please, let me introduce myself. I'm your worst nightmare." Ares said, his red glow swirling and flickering like fire with these two chains.

Images appeared in his aura, and I personally saw men get cut down left and right as one man went on a bloody rampage.

My dad shivered, but he had that sarcastic gleam in his eye that I normally would have appreciated, but worried me in this situation. "You are. If I remember correctly, you are the god of war."

Ares smirked and grew to about 9 feet in height. He thrust his chest out, and somehow he managed to swagger without technically moving. "That's right. I didn't know I was that famous among mortals."

"Isn't Athena one who actually knows how to fight though? How did the Trojan War turn out for you? And didn't you also die in the video game series named after you? Come on man, have some pride. Or have you been borrowing Aprodite's make-up too often?"

Even through my haze of pain, I laughed hard enough to make my eyes water. Ward was chortling heartily, and even Artemis chuckled, once.

Ares, however, quickly dropped his arrogant smirk and took on the "I'm going to murder you" look that Artemis had given my dad earlier.

"You just made your last mistake. No one insults me and walks off unscathed." Ares said, starting to undergo the Blurring of Doom.

Then, a lot of things happened very quickly.

Ward pulled out a single dice (die? dead?) and cupped it in his hand. It transformed into a silver sword with a golden hilt. He charged at Ares, and they started fighting, knocking over my bookcase and breaking half of our movies.

Aphrodite summoned pink armor and a golden, flaming whip. Artemis started shooting arrows, but Aphrodite made most of them dissolve. All of the Olympians started blurring, and I jumped up and pushed my dad into his room.

"Stay here!" I shouted, running back to the living room, not exactly sure how I could help with my jacked up appendage.

In the 10 seconds of my absence, all hades had broken out. Aphrodite was swinging and destroying furniture with every swipe, while Artemis was flipping and rolling to avoid her blows. For a goddess of prissy little brats, Aphrodite sure did cause a lot of damage.

Ward was an excellent swordsman (or maybe I'm biased), but Ares was cheating like I used to at candyland, shooting blasts of energy and changing heights. And then, whoosh!

My vision went dark, and from Ward's "Gah!" I could tell that the same thing happened to him. I heard a thud, and I guessed that Ares had knocked Ward out.

"Sorry-" Artemis gasped out, plainly having trouble fighting two other gods at once. "guys. We are- DIE SCUM!- in our. True forms!"

Something touched my leg, and I kicked out, trying to get whoever it was to relinquish his/her grip.

"Ouch! Emily, it's me!" Ward said, getting to his feet next to me and pushing us towards the general direction of the door.

"Duck!" Artemis yelled, and Ward and I hit the ground, a second before a sharp crack echoed across the space where we used to be. We jumped back up, and stumbled towards the door.

"Artemis!" I heard Apollo yell, as a gust of wind threw me backward, into an armored leg.

"Apollo! Where the-" (I'm editing the next few words for my younger readers (who probably shouldn't be reading a story this violent)) "flippity-flop have you been? Help me!"

"I suggest you lower your weapons," I heard Ares say as I was forcibly lifted to my feet.

Artemis started swearing (I'm guessing) in Greek, and I felt something cold against my neck.

"Where did you learn that kind of language?" Apollo asked, sounding like a disapproving older brother. "Are those Hunters a bad influence on-"

There was a sound like two boulders colliding and my left hand tingled, like I had just hit somethi- oooh. Empathy link. I get it now.

"So, Artemis, you lose yet again. Now, I'm going to kill your only daughter right in front of you, unless you surrender. Mortal forms. Both of you. Now."

"Son of a toad-licking camel! (Yeah, I maybe have edited that a little too)" I shouted, trying to break free. Then, I felt a cool air blow over me, and the blindness left my eyes.

There were gaping holes in my walls, which depressed me immensely, but far worse than that was the sight of Artemis and Apollo, standing there, leaking ichor out of several wounds, looking defeated.

I didn't turn to look at Ares, because I was sure that he wouldn't have changed back to "won't melt your eyes out" form.

"Good choice. Hmm. Hey Artemis, this daughter of yours is feisty. Maybe I won't kill her.

She could be fun to have around. All my other servants keep breaking." As if to prove his horrifying point, he lowered his sword and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, in a vaguely possessive way.

This was apparently just what Artemis and Apollo had been waiting for, because before I knew it, Apollo was shooting arrow after arrow, faster than my eyes could follow. Artemis, in the meantime, was chanting something, and I felt a tugging in my feet.

We looked at each other for a split second and then I disappeared.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

The first thing I became aware of as I looked around was the color white. Everywhere, white surrounded me, invading my eyelids giving me an instant headache.

It took several minutes of rubbing my eyes to convince myself that this wasn't a new type of blindness.

Then the crippling cold hit me.

Picture the coldest you've ever been. Then picture yourself stepping into a boiling pot.

If you aren't wincing right now, then you don't have the slightest inkling of how much pain I was in, with my t-shirt and cargo pants and no shoes.

I gasped in pain, and then suddenly I couldn't feel anything. It wasn't a numb feeling, more like something was preventing me from feeling the cold.

Looking around, I started running to what looked like a line of trees off in the distance.

My feet sank into at least 4 inches of snow with every step, but whatever was stopping me from freezing to death was still in effect and I didn't have too much trouble.

Then, a golden screen appeared in front of me, like a mirage. After a couple seconds, I recognized it as an Iris message.

"Emily!" Artemis said, and I could see my trashed living room in the background. "Where are you?"

"I have no bloody idea! All I can see is snow!" I said frantically. "And I can't feel anything! Something's wrong!"

I expected Artemis to frown at this and talk to Apollo in a worried tone. What actually happened shocked me more than anything that had ever happened before.

Artemis laughed.

"You are finally living up to your potential. Let me explain. I'm the Goddess of Hunters, and I'm used to hunting in all kinds of weather. It makes sense that, as my spawn- Daughter, you wouldn't be influenced by adverse weather conditions."

I smiled sarcastically. "Excellent. Now there's just the small problem of not getting eaten by a polar bear!"

Artemis's good humor vanished, and she frowned. "That might be a problem. How's your shoulder?"

I moved it around and didn't feel anything. "It's fine.

She nodded. "Okay, then I'll send you a-"

The screen rippled, and I lost sound. Artemis's face blurred, and the screen turned black.

Then, a new image appeared.

"Hello there." Aphrodite said, ruining my already awful situation with the appearance of her face. "You seem to have escaped. But, if my guess is correct, you are all alone. So, your life depends on who gets there first. PS: If it's Ares or I, your life will end. Painfully."

I half-expected (which doesn't make sense. Can you really half do something subconsciously? Is my inner self getting lazy?) her to dance around the threat, so my respect for her grew a tiny amount.

Which didn't take away from the fact that I was literally at the mercy of whoever found me first.

"And just to even things out, don't expect any Iris-messages anytime soon. Tootles!"

And the connection dissolved, leaving me alone in the howling abyss of white.

I started trudging again, until I heard a sharp Crack!

Overreacting for the second time in two chapters, I fell to the ground and covered my head.

Something dropped into the snow next to me, and I warily looked around for Olympians, or lynxes or other things hazardous to my health.

All I saw was a silver bow with a quiver of arrows, lying in the snow innocently.

I wrapped my fingers around it, and screamed when my shoulder exploded with pain. I couldn't move my arm, and even as I looked, my fingers lost the ability to bend. My arm didn't stop hurting, so I guess my weather protection only applied to, well, the weather.

I took a step back (mentally) and examined my situation from an impartial (yeah, right) point of view. I decided to make a pro-con list.

Pros: I was alive (for now). Artemis and Apollo were searching for me (eventually). I was protected from the weather (but not the excruciating pain of my shoulder).

Cons: Where to begin... Well, I am stranded in an Arctic tundra with no food, shelter, or support. Oh, and my only form of protection is useless because I can't bend or use my right arm. I have a couple of malicious Olympians that are hunting me for some asinine reason. And, I'm pretty sure I am starting to hallucinate. Unless that animal coming at me is real.

Then I'm screwed.

**AN2: So, this chapter was a little short, but my writing spirit has been... Dang I'm tired. It's about three in the morning here, so I'll upload this, well, whenever you are reading it. Thanks for the reviews, and I'll update at 160. Yes, that is a ridiculous expectation. Yes, I am using that as a cushion so I don't have to type like a maniac. Yes, I'm ashamed of myself. Sigh. **


	21. Walking in a Winter Wonderland

**AN: Sorry I didn't update sooner, but the only time I have to type is lunar. **

I squinted into the distance, trying to see what was stalking towards me. It looked like a smaller version of a cat I had had when I was little. And it looked angry.

So, I took my usual escape route and fled like the devil (no offense Hades) was coming after me.

Sprinting my heart out, I dashed towards the line of whatever was interrupting the white emptiness.

For a couple of seconds, I was convinced that I had gotten away, positive that no puny feline could keep up with someone as athletic and agile (heh.) as I was.

And then I felt claws dig into my back. Crop.

The lynx (I know it was a lynx because of my extensive study in lynxol- okay fine! I saw a picture of one once) sat on my stomach, AND THEN RUBBED AGAINST MY FACE AND PURRED!

Now, I was always a cat person. Cute little kittens prancing around, causing mischief are, unarguably, the cutest thing in the whole universe. But when a 30 lb. lynx jumps on your stomach, it's a slightly different story.

"Good kitty," I whispered, positive that this was going to end in my dismemberment. "Good kitty want to let me live?"

The lynx purred, and it struck me that this was a very pretty animal. Beautiful gray fur, cute little ears, claws that could easily rip me to shreds...

The lynx (which I shall call "Chester" for some reason unknown even to me) finished our little cuddle session, and he jumped off me, grabbing my hand in his teeth, gently.

When a vicious (yet, oddly cuddly) wild animal tries to lead you in a certain direction, you follow.

Chester started loping gracefully off towards the trees, and I followed.

I quickly fell behind, but I think that's to be expected when I don't have four feet, or even shoes.

Chester kept stopping to wait for me, and then quickly bounding ahead with what seemed like endless energy. Finally, just when I was hoping the cat would just turn around and eat me so I could stop running, he disappeared.

Normally, this would have been my chance to dash away, but my weather protection was wearing off, and I needed to get warm. Fast.

I stumbled around...and tripped head first into a hole that I hadn't seen before.

Looking around, I saw that I was in a pit of lynxes.

Now everything made sense. Chester was probably the leader of the pack, and he didn't want to hog all the food, so he brought it back to share with all the baby lynxes.

My night vision has become rather excellent since I've been hanging out with Artemis, so I could see that I had fallen more than five feet, AKA too high to jump back out. I probably should have been more concerned, but the hole was much, much warmer than the icy tundra above.

I looked in the little cavern, and I saw about 12 lynxes, in various states of shock. A couple of them, the mean-looking ones naturally, started flicking their tails, and the smaller lynxes scurried to the back of the herd (Pride? Plethora? Gaggle?).

Chester, who had not joined the rest of them, tensed and crouched down in front of me, hurting my theory significantly.

The lynxes started arguing, but since they are cats and I am not, it just looked like a bunch of tail twitching and ear flicking.

I knew what was happening was crucial, but when you can't understand what the people (or technically, lynxes) are saying, your mind tends to wander.

If I stay in this hole, how will Artemis find me? Then again, how will Aphrodite find me? What if the lynxes elect me as their leader and I rule them from my underground fortress?

Or, more likely, what if they eat me?

Finally, something seemed to happen. Chester growled, and two of the other lynxes approached, snarling fiercely and backed Chester into a corner.

Then, a much bigger, intelligent looking lynx that I hadn't noticed before approached me. This lynx was at least twice as big as the other lynxes, and it's eyes shone with intelligence.

"Nice lynx?" I said, using the soft voice that I normally use with...ummm...huh. I guess I never use a respectful tone. What do you know?

I swear, the lynx smirked at me, and casually unsheathed it's claws.

"Well that's vaguely threatening. And now I'm talking to an animal. Great." I muttered, rolling my eyes.

Kitten growled, and the fur on it's shoulders rose and bristled.

"You understand me, don't you?" I asked, crouching down so I was eye to eye with the creature.

The lynx (hereby referred to as Kitten because it's heavy in sarcasm and typing lynx over and over again is getting dull) winked and made a noise low in it's throat. Simultaneously, all the lynxi got to their feet and moved towards me.

I read somewhere that you were supposed to act bigger than attacking animals, so I stood and started flapping my arms and growling.

Then, all the lynxi jumped up and out of the cavern, leaving me alone with Chester and

Kitten, who was doing the lynx version of laughing, sat down and started licking his paws.

"So, you can understand me? What about Chester over there?" I asked, nodded at him. Yes, I realize how ridiculous I sound, but if the Greek gods are real, it's possible that animals can talk.

Kitten shook his/her head, still with a weird shining in her/his eyes.

I frowned, aware that this system isn't going to work. "So, any chance you can talk?"

Kitten snorted and rolled it's eyes. It started scratching something into the ground, and I tried to move my arm again. Yep, searing pain still there.

Kitten growled and I looked to see what it had carved.

"Artemis? You met her?" I asked, wondering if my mom was the goddess of hunting, why was Kitten still alive?

Kitten nodded, and things started to make a little more sense.

"You know I'm her daughter?" A nod. "You are aware of her war with Aphrodite?" Another nod. "You are keeping me here until she gets here?" A third nod. "Do you have a way of communicating with her?" Sadly, Kitten shook her head, and I groaned in frustration. "So I am pretty much in the same situation I was before?" Kitten nodded her head again. "Gah! Can you at least get my bow? I left it somewhere out there." I said, gesturing in the general area I had come from. Kitten twitched her/his tail and flicked his/her ears.

Chester immediately jumped up and out of the hole.

"Well, unless you have anything else to tell me, I'll be taking a nap. If you could send me a little baby lynx to cuddle with, I would be very grateful."

Kitten raised one side of it's mouth like a smile and shook it's head, so I laid down and fell asleep.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

I awoke to something sitting on my chest, suffocating me, which is a pretty unpleasant way to wake up, if you ask me, which you didn't, and man, this is a run-on sentence.

I rolled over, and Chester leapt off me.

"Morning Chester." I mumbled, wiping the sleep out of my eyes and getting to my feet.

My bow was lying on the ground next to me, and, without thinking, I reached for it.

Of course, my injury hadn't magically healed, and I couldn't hold onto it. Plus, I involuntarily mewed like a baby kitten.

Chester made a low noise in his throat, and looked at me quizzically (I'm guessing. Cat-emotions are hard to understand.)

"Yeah, my arms kinda jacked up. Hey, is there any food around here?" I hadn't eaten since my snack of pudding and pretzels the day before this one.

Chester meowed, and I remembered he couldn't understand me. Tired, I laid back down and put my arm back over my eyes.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, someone was shaking me awake.

"Wake up Emily." the voice said, not sounding urgent enough for me to listen. "I'll electrocute you if you don't, Emily."

"Thalia?" I mumbled, sitting up and yawning. "What're you doing here?"

She had been standing, but she sat down next to me. "Looking for you of course. Lady

Artemis has every hunter combing the world for you. It's lucky I saw your footsteps, or you could have been here much longer. How did you find the clan?"

I was still pretty tired, so I only heard the last part, but I was excited to talk to someone who could actually talk back. "Funny story. So, Artemis teleported me out of my house to get me away from Ares and Aphrodite, and I guess she forgot where she sent me. So, I was just trudging along, minding my own business, and BAM! Lynx attack!" I said, really getting into my story now. Thalia frowned, like she couldn't picture an animal attacking someone related to Artemis. "Okay, well it wasn't technically an attack. Anyways, Chester led me back here and I sat around while they had a little lynx debate. And then they all left except for the big one, who, I'm pretty sure, understands English. Just saying. And then, after they refused to snuggle with me, I went to sleep. Then I woke up, and here you are. What about you?"

Thalia sighed, and laid her head back against the wall. Now that I was seeing her up close, she looked even more tired than I did.

"Well, after that fight, Ares and Aphrodite fled, knowing that my Lady and lord Apollo were getting ready to tear them to shreds. Then, Artemis teleported to our camp and told us to find you. She didn't even know what continent you were on! But I IM'ed her and she said she's on her way. She's just rounding up all the other Hunters, who are in various chilly climates across the world. She said she'll meet us up there. Man, you get all the fun adventures."

"Well, I went blind, and had my house torn apart, but if you consider that fun, then, yeah. I guess. How am I going to get out of here?" I wondered, standing up and stretching.

Thalia stood up next to me, and just jumped, easily making it, which isn't humanly possible. "Your turn."

"No. No." I insisted, shaking my head. "I'll just wait until Artemis gets here and she can teleport me out of here. I can't jump that high."

"Come on, you're the daughter of Artemis. You could probably fly if you wanted to. Just focus all your energy and jump."

"I'm good." I said, sitting down.

Thalia sighed. "I warned you." and then she raised her arm and shot electricity at me.

"Fah! Fah on you and your kin!" I growled, then I got an idea.

I stood up and glared threateningly at her. "You dare harm a child of Artemis? I shall smite you!"

It didn't work.

Thalia jumped down, knees bend to lessen impact. She walked up to me, and I noticed that she was several inches taller than I was.

"You want to fight me, oh mighty daughter of Artemis? I've been lieutenant since before you were born." she bragged, calling my bluff.

"Maybe later. I haven't had breakfast yet," I said, knowing I would stand no chance with my hurt arm. Plus, Thalia is kind of scary.

She smirked and jumped to the surface again.

I crouched down and focused all my energy. Using my long-dormant leg muscles, I leapt high into the air...and didn't even come close to the opening.

"Just..try..again.." Thalia breathed through her laughter.

I mumbled something that sounded like "hatred" and backed up to get a running start.

Again, I leapt, using every shred of my energy. This time I got my arms to the opening.

Thalia grabbed my right arm, and pain exploded in my shoulder.

"Down! Down!" I roared, grabbing my shoulder with my left hand.

She dropped me and I landed heavily on the ground. I had tried to bend my knees in mid-fall, but it only resulted in me landing harder than I would have otherwise. Groaning, I sat up, my arm still throbbing.

Thalia landed beside me, and I scooted back a little bit.

"What happened to your arm?" she asked, crouching down.

"Nothing, I just jolted it funny." I lied, not quite sure why.

Thalia didn't buy it. "Liar. That's why you didn't want to fight me? Just tell me what happened."

"Artemis accidentally shot me, and then healed the surface so I wouldn't bleed to death."

"She 'accidentally' shot you? Artemis doesn't 'accidentally' do anything."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, she did. Maybe I know her better than you do."

Thalia jumped up without a word, and she stomped off, leaving me alone in the hole. Maybe I should stop making my friends mad.

Sighing, I sat down, still holding my shoulder.

"Oh Emily?" I heard the voice from one of my worst nightmares. "What are you doing down in that hole? It's dirty!"

Aphrodite crouched down from above, wearing an expression that looked exactly like mine when I knew something that others didn't. Weirdly, I felt a new emotion invade my mind other than horror, one that felt like...humor?

"Hey Artemis. What's up?" To my utter relief, Aphrodite's sickeningly pretty face morphed into the one I didn't hate quite as much. Light brown hair darkened, eyes changed from brown to steely blue, and build changed from delicate to lean.

"Nothing much. Just going to take you to Apollo so my arm stops exploding with pain." she said, jumping down and landing without the slightest thump. "Come on. Teleporting while sitting can jumble you up."

I stood, and she grabbed my elbow.

I experienced the usual sensation, and we landed in the same room I had been in before. Yay for variety.

She shoved me into a chair, and Apollo walked in, listening to his iPod.

"Apollo? Apollo!" Artemis tried to get his attention, getting angry.

"Baby, I like it..." Apollo sang, ruining my image of him permanently.

Artemis rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. Apollo's headphones turned into worms, to his utter horror.

He threw them onto the floor and glared at Artemis. "Not nice, sis. After all I do for you? Maybe I shouldn't help you guys." he said, beginning to walk away.

Artemis groaned. "Sorry Apollo. Please, just heal her."

Apollo grinned and walked over to me. "Hold still, niece. Man, why do we only hang out when you are critically wounded? We should grab a movie sometime."

I smiled. "Sounds fun. You can be my cool older uncle who lets me dr-"

"Don't even think about it." Artemis snapped, glaring at me.

"I was going to say 'draw'."

Apollo laughed and shot a burst of energy into my shoulder.

Artemis and I howled as the muscles reknit themselves and moved to their original positions.

"All done. Have a good day. Your bill will come in the mail shortly." Apollo said, snapping and turning the worms back into headphones and scooped them up as he strolled out the door.

"So..." I said, thinking of a new topic of conversation after his sudden departure. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know. You manage to get into trouble no matter where I put you. I'm half-convinced to set you on some distant island somewhere, but you'd probably get into a fight with a shark or something. And we both know what would happen if you died." she said, sitting down on the room's other chair.

"No, actually I don't." I said, wondering what could happen.

She frowned. "Well, I know that if I were to 'die', you would die too. But if you died, hmmm I wonder... It would be an interesting experiment.."

"Bad!" I scolded, relishing my turn to reprimand her instead of the other way around.

She grinned cheekily. "Just a joke. But, I really don't know what to do with you."

We sat in silence for several moments, until a crazy thought struck me.

"Hey, Artemis, can I join the Hunters?"

**AN2: I know, I know. Cliff hangers are the bane of your existences. I know this chapter isn't the best, but the well of ideas is draining out faster than I can dream up new ones. I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but you guys were too ninja for me. Reviews are my favorite presents, so...there's that. My brother is coming into town, so I won't update for a couple days, but merry Christmas everyone. PS: 175. Thanks, and to all a good night (or morning or evening, depending on your location)!**


	22. One Ring to Rule them all

**AN: I spent plenty of time with my mortal brother, but not enough time with my Olympian mother. **

Artemis did the same thing I always did when a teacher asked me a question that I didn't want to answer: she chuckled nervously and said "What?"

"Can I join your Hunters?" I repeated, more excited this time. "Think about it! It makes sense. That way, you could go on with your normal activities and I would be close enough for you to keep an eye on me!"

She frowned. "But why would you want join my Hunters? Didn't they kidnap you at some

point?"

I smiled. "Ah, the good old days. Yeah, they may have kidnapped me, but that was your fault for ignoring them. You can't just ignore a problem to make it go away."

She snorted. "Trust me, I know."

Ouch.

"So," I continued, ignoring the insult "think about it. It makes sense. Plus, I'm pretty sure I get immortality in the bargain.

As soon as the word passed my lips, I knew I had made a terrible mistake.

"I-immortality?" she stammered, looking more panicked than I had ever seen her look. "You'd live forever? You would always be there, making sarcastic comments and constantly getting into bad situations that I have to bail you out of? No. Never. I would rather spend a year in the Fields of Punishment."

"What?" I half-chuckled, nothing but fiery rage in my eyes. "You want me to die?"

Her hesitation was all the answer I needed. I flexed my arm, didn't feel any pain, and lunged at her.

Now kids, I can look back and identify the four worst decisions in my life so far.

1- In second grade, I traded my shiny Charizard pokemon card to a kid for an ice cream

from the school's cafeteria.

2- My dad let me borrow his iPhone and I let one of my friends (yes, I do (did?) have friends) play with it. They dropped it, shattering the screen.

3- Not moving or dodging when Artemis had the arrow pointed at me.

4- What happened next.

She had been caught off guard, so she couldn't vaporize me immediately, but she was still a trained fighter with centuries upon centuries of practice.

Jumping up from her chair, she watched as I crashed into the chair in which she had been sitting. Pain burst from my chin as I whacked it against the wooden back of the chair.

"Emily, stop. You have to admit that you don't exactly make my life easy!" she tried (and failed) to defend herself.

Getting up gingerly, I didn't yell at her or flip her off. I did something much more idiotic.

I ran at her again.

Over the course of the last few weeks, Artemis and I had been clashing time and time again. She got her frustration out by, well, mauling me with a sword, but this was my therapy session.

I rammed into her, and immediately agreed with Ward when he said it was like charging into a brick wall. She looked down at me with pity in her eyes, and it drove me insane.

"Why. Do. You. Have. To. Be. So. Freaking. Strong?" I yelled, accentuating each word with a fruitless attempt to knock her down.

Finally, exhausted, I collapsed on the bed. After I had calmed down, she walked up to my side.

"So it's decided. You can't join the Hunters. If you had a lapse of control like that in a battle, you'd get yourself seriously hurt, and maybe even someone else. I can't take that risk." she said, shaking her head.

I sat up angrily, but also slightly sleepily "You can't be serious! I'll- I'll tell the mortal race about you!"

Her eyes darkened dangerously. "I'll have you locked in an insane asylum faster than you can cough."

I paled slightly. "So, you've made your final decision?" She nodded. "Fine."

And I stood up, and walked out the door.

For some reason, Artemis didn't try to stop me, so I just followed the path Apollo had carried me down after the explosion.

Even the hallways of Olympus were majestic, with beautiful tapestries adorning almost every square inch of the walls. I noticed a water fountain that looked rather out of place until I saw someone drink a golden liquid from it.

Finally, I got to the huge double-doors that led into the throne room. On the wall next to them read this sign:

"For the preservation of this room for the long years of your reign (let them be many) please refrain from using your true forms, and/or exploding. Thank you for your courtesy."

And I walked inside, and beheld a curious scene.

"But daddy, I hate her! She's been nothing but mean to me ever since she was born! And now that daughter of hers goes out of her way to embarrass me! It's not fair!"

I around one of the large thrones, and saw Aphrodite sitting on Zeus's lap, sobbing into his shoulder.

Zeus, to his credit, looked bored and slightly annoyed at the complaining, so I gathered the courage and walked out where they could see me.

"My lord and my lady," I said, bowing down respectfully just to mess with Aphrodite. "I apologize for intruding on you in this insolent manner, but I have a request to make in the behalf of lord Zeus."

Aphrodite immediately made her face look normal (aka not all red and puffy with crying) and jumped down from his lap. "Your request is denied. Get out of my sight before I curse you." she snarled, walking up to me.

I stayed where I was. "Respectfully, my lady, I was speaking to lord Zeus."

She turned bright red and stalked off, not leaving like I thought she would, but rather sitting in her throne like a sulky 9 year-old.

Zeus looked amused. "Please continue."

I took a deep breath. "You are aware, of course, that my mother has a band of girls that follow her? Well, I want to join, but she won't accept me for no good reason. Please, convince her to be reasonable."

"Now why would I do that, little one? Artemis is already mad enough that I ordered her not to kill you. This will just push her over the edge, where she has a pretty permanent residence." Zeus said, shaking his head. Normally, I would have reacted to the "little one" comment, but even I know better than to mess with Zeus.

"But, this makes sense. If I'm immortal, then Artemis doesn't have to keep saving me, so she would complain less. And, if I was always on missions with Artemis, I wouldn't harass Aphrodite as much! And, Artemis couldn't kill me, even if she tried! It works for everyone!" I explained eagerly, coming up with reasons as I spoke.

Zeus frowned. "She could still kill you. It's only if you don't die in battle that the immortality kicks in. You don't age and you can't get sick, but she can still maim you. And you guys always fight with each other. Why would you want to spend more time with her?"

"Well, immortality and super strength." I didn't really have better reasons than those. Immortality is pretty pronking sweet.

Zeus laughed. "You'll regret this. But you deserve to be able to make your own mistakes. Artemis."

He said the name normally, but Artemis seemed to hear him wherever she was, and she appeared in the room.

She took one look at me and her aura turned a bright, angry silver.

"Yes?" she asked, and I could feel her anger and suspicion through our link.

"Your daughter here has brought something to my attention. You are not letting her join your hunters?"

Artemis turned to look at me, gaping. "YOU TOLD MY DAD ON ME? You spoiled, insolent, obnoxious, tattle-taling, low-life-"

"Artemis!"

She blushed. "Sorry father. And I don't know why she bothered you with this small problem. This was something that should have been settled between us. If you'll excuse us, I'll take care of it in private."

I snorted. "You can try. Everything you do to me, you feel. But, yeah. Go nuts."

Artemis growled, and started to blur around the edges.

Zeus's eyes flashed. "Artemis. Control yourself in my presence, or I will become angry."

Artemis immediately stopped blurring, and I could see how hard it was for her to control herself.

"Good. Now, I command you to allow Emily to join your hunters. If you refuse, I will be severely displeased."

Artemis's lip twitched, but she lowered her head respectfully. "As you wish, sir."

Zeus frowned, but nodded. "Excellent. You two, dismissed."

Artemis gripped my shoulder and dragged me out before I could thank Zeus. As I was pulled out, I noticed Aphrodite smiling faintly.

What was Aphrodite up to? Some evil new plan involving the hunters?

I was jolted out of my contemplative mood by Artemis throwing me into a nearby wall.

"What the (Ancient Greek mean words) were you thinking? That I wouldn't figure out that you had gone behind my back? To my father? You're lucky that I haven't killed you yet!" she roared, standing over me as I slowly got to my feet.

"Well, I'm sick of always being the victim! It's ridiculous! This way, when Ares or someone tries to mess with me, I can send them back where they came from. Please, just give me a chance."

She didn't speak, and I could feel her indecision and still-large amount of anger through our bond.

Finally, "You can't go through initiation until the two months are over. Bones will be broken, and I don't want to have to put up with that. You will refer to me as Lady Artemis or other respectful titles. Call me mom or anything like it and I will throw you into a lake. You may be my daughter, but Thalia is my lieutenant and you will listen to her. Any questions?"

I was wondering about the initiation she mentioned, but now didn't seem like the time to ask. "Nope. I'm ready."

"Good." she said, and for some reason she teleported us to a park instead of a camp. "Before you go in, you need a brief history. The titan's latest revolution changed a lot of things. Before, I accepted any maiden who vowed to forsake men. Now, my standards have gotten stricter. You must pass a series of trials, designed to see if you are worthy. My father may have forced me to let you join, but I will make your life a living underworld" Wait, isn't that impossible? "if you don't take this seriously. And if you reveal our link to anyone, I'll viciously maim them and you. So, your first test is to find the camp. Good luck."

She rested her hand on my shoulder for a brief second, and I could see that she meant good luck in general. Either that or she had something in her eye.

She disappeared, leaving me alone on a park bench, regretting my decision for the first time (this chapter). The sun was setting, and I sat there, enjoying the peaceful moment.

Until I realized that I had no idea of where the pronking camp was.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Apollo?" I said nervously into the Iris cam. "Are you there?" It was totally dark, and I didn't think that was normal.

I heard a low groan and a ball of white-hot flames appeared, searing my retinas.

"Oh satyr. Sorry Emily! Are you okay?" I heard Apollo ask apologetically.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My eye will heal." I said, rubbing my poor, tortured sockets. "I need some help, if you aren't too busy."

"Sure. Need some poetry to win your man over? Need me to 'accidentally' wound him so you have to nurse him back to health? Need me to-"

I chuckled. "Nothing like that. Actually, the opposite. I'm joining Artemis's hunters, and I can't find the camp." The black spots went away gradually, just in time for me to see Apollo gaping at me in horror.

"Why on earth would you do that? You wouldn't be able to see Ward anymore! Are you really willing to give up men forever? Some of them are almost as hot as I am!" he said insistently.

I frowned. "Well, I can just quit later on, when I'm ready to get married. Can you please tell me how to get there?"

Apollo sighed and put his head in his hands. His golden hair was messy, and I could see his blue bed sheets in the light of the much more reasonable flame he made float beside him.

"Isn't that your first task? Just release your inner power and reach out for her. Sorry I can't help you more, but you'll have enough trouble getting the girls to like you without adding this too."

Wait, what?

"What do you mean I'll have trouble getting the girls to like me? Once I'm in, I'm in, right?" I asked, positive he was going to smile and admit that he was joking.

Apollo shook his head. "They will make your life miserable until you gain their acceptance. Trust me, I'm the god of prophecy. I know these things. But I won't send you in defenseless. Here. Take this," A simple gold ring appeared on the ground, and I reached down to pick it up. "Wear it. Turn it on your finger 3 times and I'll come get you, no matter where you are. It only works once so don't waste it. Well, I need some sleep. Good luck, Emily."

And he swiped his hand through the IM, dissolving it into little wisps.

I put the ring on, and it felt warm an powerful. Knowing that it was probably frowned upon, I decided to not tell anyone about my precious...

Back to my mission.

Normally I tried to repress my new influx of Artemis's emotions, but now I delved into them to try to locate the source.

Suddenly, I felt confident and powerful. I knew these were Artemis's feelings, but our bond was pretty strong, so the line between what was hers and what was mine started to blur a little bit.

With my eyes still closed, I took off running towards the source of the strength.

I quickly realized that running with my eyes shut is the stupidest idea I have had in a while.

One bruised ego and a short run later, the emotions were getting more and more powerful.

I knew I was close to camp, so I stopped by a little creek and splashed some water on my face, doubting I would get the chance later.

Leaning down to drink some water, I almost didn't notice the huge, white wolf steadily padding towards me.

Needless to say, I screamed something like "Cousin Abby, why?" (Get it? We are both Wolfs... Ehh never mind)" and took off sprinting into the forest, with the wolf (who was mist definitely not my favorite cousin) snapping at my heels.

Thinking quickly, I lunged to the left and scaled a large pine tree to get away from the wolf's sharp fangs.

I realized that maybe this wasn't the best choice when my arms were drenched in tree sap, and small scratches covered my arms and face. The large white wolf (who I shall not bother to name) sat at the base if the tree and howled up at me, to my dismay.

Perching on a branch of dubious strength, I settled in to wait for the beast to leave, which I assumed would be in a couple minutes.

Minutes turned into hours, and my patience started to run thin.

Just when I was ready to jump and land on the dog, however, it sniffed once and then ran away.

I heard a sharp twang and the next thing I knew, I was tumbling through the tree, hitting branch after branch after branch.

It seemed the branches had slowed my fall enough to not instantly kill me, but it still hurt like Hades to get up and stumble towards the new emotion, one I was in too much pain to recognize.

Finally, I stumbled into a clearing, and I heard a sharp whistle and about a dozen teenage girls jumped out of the surrounding trees, all of them armed with bows of various colors.

It was pretty dark, and most of them were wearing a dark gray so it was kinda hard to see who everybody was.

I recognized Thalia (who was wearing her silver circlet) and she gave me a brief smile before scowling and ordering me to get on my knees with my hands above my head.

Gritting my teeth, I did so, wincing when I bent over.

Then Artemis walked out of the woods from behind Thalia and said "That will do. Thank you. And look who we have here girls. Our newest recruit. About time she got here, don't you think?" Artemis said, obviously poking fun at me for their cruel amusement.

The other girls laughed, and I realized just how hard it would be for me to make friends here.

She looked at me with a raised eyebrow, so I said, "I am sorry for the inconvenience.

There was a slight altercation with a large white wolf, and that took up some time."

For some reason, snickers and giggles exploded on every side.

"A white wolf you say? Huh. That sure is strange, isn't it girls?" Artemis said, and I could feel her amusement building up through our link. "I wonder how it found her."

Then it hit me. Thalia was looking at me with a mixture of amusement and pity, and Artemis was blatantly grinning at me.

"You sent a wolf after me? Why the... flip would you do that?" At my words everyone burst into laughter, and Artemis waved her hand, making a screen appear in mid air.

I got to see myself sprint away and up a tree, to the demonic giggles of the other girls.

Now, I think I had handled everything so far extremely well for someone who has always had trouble controlling herself, but, for some reason, this was too much.

I leapt to my feet with murder in my eyes. My aura started glowing an angry silver but I had only taken one step towards Artemis before a burst if electricity hit me in the skull.

Weird pinks and greens appeared in my mind and my vision went blurry.

I could distantly feel myself fall to the ground, and I heard Artemis order someone to carry me to... And then I passed out.

-/-

I awoke sometime later to a pounding, pulsing headache in my forehead and the inability to move.

"Wha?" I asked, still in my sleepy time fog. I could see a fuzzy object in front of me, and my vision cleared and revealed that Phoebe was once again my captor.

"Morning." she said from her chair. I looked around and remembered what had happened last night, with the fury and embarrassment I had been forced to undergo and the lightning bolt to my head.

"Let me up. Now." I ordered Phoebe, try to escape the ropes that tied me to the cot.

My hands were tied to the side of the bed, and my feet were tied together, so it didn't really work.

"Sorry. Artemis told me to wait for her. Plus, if you were to take one step outside, you'd have so many arrows in you that you'd probably be mistaken for a porcupine.

I sighed in defeat. "Fine. When can I leave then?"

"Whenever Artemis comes. That's our policy with potential threats. She'll come interrogate you, and then you'll go free."

"Any chance you are allowed to feed me?" I asked hopefully, my stomach growling at that precise instant.

She shook her head, and I leaned back and waited.

And waited and waited.

Finally, just when I was going to say something, Phoebe leapt to her feet and bowed as Artemis and Thalia strolled in, chatting between themselves.

"Well, well. What have we here? Phoebe, Thalia, leave us." Without a word, they left, bowing low.

Which left me burning with hatred at the goddess who was in the tent.

"You have to learn to control yourself better. I can't let them know about our link. That outburst of yours was poorly planned and potentially disastrous. If anyone had noticed, you know what I would have had to do."

For a brief second, I was speechless with fury. "'Control myself better'? You sent a freaking wolf after me just so your little band of girl scouts would forget that fact that you ditched them for me! I can't believe you would do that to me. Actually, I can. It's just up your alley."

She gave me a leveled look.

"It was either that or let them kill you. See? Do you see why I didn't want you to join? You don't belong here!"

And with that icy stake driven into my soul, she walked out of the room, leaving me alone and unable to leave.

I slouched back into the cot angrily, and didn't even hear Thalia enter until she asked, "What link?"

Oh. Oh dearie me.

**AN2: So, instead of my usual "I hope you enjoyed this chapter" spiel, I have a question for you. What is your favorite part of the story? What do you read the story for? And no, this isn't just a little ego-boost for me (but it is that too haha). Tell me in a review, or PM me, whatever. Thanks for sticking to my story through all the ups and downs. Happy New Years! PS: 186**


	23. Cheaters sometimes Prosper

**AN: I'm terribly sorry about the long delay, but I had an awful case of writer's block that I had to slay. **

"What link?" Thalia repeated.

I looked around wildly for a way out of this situation. "Are you sure she didn't say 'minx'? That silly Artemis. She's always threatening to do wacky stuff.." I trailed off with a half chuckle that faded out weakly.

Thalia rolled her eyes and shot a burst of electricity at me.

"That was for insulting Lady Artemis. And this," she shocked me again. "is for not answering my question. Come on Emily, stop screwing with me. I haven't slept in two days and I'm tired. Just tell me what you guys were talking about and I'll leave you alone."

She really did look tired, and I honestly wanted to help her, but Artemis's words played again in my mind,

_"And if you reveal our link to anyone, I'll viciously maim them and you."_

As much as her eternal loyalty to Artemis bugged me, there was no way in Hades that I was going to set her up as Artemis's target practice.

I frowned, putting on my most innocent face. "I honestly don't know what you mean."

She inhaled deeply and raised her arm to aim her palm at me (like Ironman) "You have three seconds. One. Two."

I braced myself for the pain, but just as she was saying "Three", the tent flap rustled and Phoebe walked in, pausing when she noticed what Thalia was doing.

"What do you want Phoebe?" Thalia said, lowering her arm a little. "I'm kinda in the middle of something."

Phoebe frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry, but Lady Artemis wanted to see you in her tent."

Thalia nodded. "Thank you. And Emily? This isn't over." and she strolled out the door, leaving with a curious Phoebe.

"What made Thalia so mad? Heh, reminds me of the time we poured water on her as a joke. Have you ever mixed electricity and water? No? Well don't. I'm still hurting from her retribution, and that was over a year ago. Anyways, how are you? Need anything?"

I shook my head, which is a lot harder when you are strapped down to a cot. "Nah, I'm good. Oh wait, would you mind letting me actually move?"

She shook her head. "Sorry. I have orders not to untie you before Lady Artemis comes. Her orders."

I sighed. That was as much as I had expected. "Then can you tell me a little more about the Hunters then? Like, what do you guys do?"

She sat down on a nearby crate. "Well, we actually have a lot of freedom. We are required to check in here every couple of hours, but we pretty much do whatever we want, whether it be hunting, or fishing, or whatever. Sometimes Lady Artemis has to go to Olympus, but when she's here, it's amazing to see her hunt. She really seems to get into the prey's mind. And then, at nighttime, she tells us stories about the olden times. She makes shapes appear in the fire and everything!"

"Do you guys ever read, or play video games?" I asked, pretty hopelessly.

Phoebe shook her head. "Nah. I mean, we could read, if we wanted to. But there's always so much going on here that we never seem to have the time."

We sat in silence while I tried to come up with more questions, but my thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Artemis, decked out in her full huntress gear.

"Thank you Phoebe." Artemis said, clearly dismissing her.

Phoebe bowed and left.

"So, what's up, mo- my Lady?" I asked, catching myself just in time.

She snorted at my lousy cover-up, and sat on the crate Phoebe had just vacated.

"Well, I have a lieutenant who is keeping secrets from me, a new recruit who causes trouble literally everywhere she goes, and an empathy bond with a mortal who is constantly doing something stupid. How do you think I'm doing?"

Noticing that I was 66% (technically 66.6666... but whatever) of the stuff she considered wrong with her life, I thought it best to keep silent.

She sighed and rubbed her forehead with her palms.

"I honestly have no idea what to do with you." she said, shaking her head tiredly.

I shrugged. "Too bad I can't just hibernate for the next two months, huh?" I said with a chuckle.

She quickly looked up at me, excited.

"That's it! Perfect!"

"Wait wait wait. I was kidding. You can't just put me to sleep like an old dog. At least let me go live on the happy farm where no pets ever die.." I said, joking about that last part.

She smiled sarcastically. "Just think of it this way. You're grounded."

And she put her icy-cold hand on my forehead, and I sank into the deepest sleep I had ever entered.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Emily."

A voice penetrated the warm, fuzzy feeling of sleep, and I struggled to stay in my happy place.

"Wake up Emily."

The voice was more insistent, and somewhere it occurred to me that I knew that voice.

"Emily! Now!"

"I don't want to eat the hermit crabs!" I muttered, trying to turn over.

For some reason I couldn't, and I opened my eyes to see a couple indistinct, blurry images.

"Good, she's awake. Leave us now. I'll call you if I need you."

There was the sound of people leaving, and I squinted, trying to focus.

My vision cleared, and I saw Artemis, staring down at me with a pleased expression on her face.

"You survived. So, how do you feel?"

I yawned, still trying to wake up. "Hungry. Can you please untie me? I feel like I haven't moved in months."

She snapped, and the ropes fell away.

"Well, you technically haven't moved in months," she said, making the ropes disappear with a wave of her hand.

I laughed. "Yeah right. That's a good one. Like you would really..." I trailed off, noticing her expression. "You did! You put me to sleep for two months! Of all the low-down, dirty rotten, skunk-filled, slug-belching, rabbit-covered, evil things, I honestly can't believe you would do that! It's a miracle I didn't die!"

I tried to stand up, and then cried out in agony when every muscle and bone in my back, neck, and legs cracked and popped.

The floor rushed up to meet me, and I couldn't move for several minutes.

Finally, I could stand and I sat down on the cot.

"Thanks for your help, by the way. And what on earth are you grinning about?" I asked, annoyed and holding my back with my ring hand.

"You don't remember what the two month hibernation was for, do you?"

I snorted. "Of course I do. It was when that stupid empathy link was ende- Oh."

The bond was over! I was free!

I turned to look at Artemis. Up until now, I had always imagined us hugging or high-fiving at this point. Now, I wasn't so sure. Her smile was 100% evil, with a dash of cruelty thrown in there (for flavor).

It was one of those "Let's try out my new taxidermy kit... ON YOU (boy, I'll never make that mistake again)" kinds of smiles, and those have never gone well for me.

"So, we made it through, huh? I think we should celebrate. Cake?" I suggested, trying to stand.

My knees were still too messed up, and I collapsed back down immediately.

Artemis, however, stood and walked over to me. Her silence was kinda freaking me out, so it was almost a relief when she said,

"What exactly was that stunt of mine? I believed you called it, and I quote, 'low-down, dirty rotten, skunk-filled, slug-belching, rabbit-covered, and evil'. (my short-lived relief dissolved at this point) Now, those words have exactly none of the respect a goddess like me deserves. So, I'll give you two options. A: Undergo so much pain and misery that you are begging for death, or B: Beg and plead for mercy, and swear on the River Styx that you will never disturb me again, and go free. Your choice. Option B would save you a lot of pain, so you might want to consider that your smartest option."

She stood there with her arms crossed, waiting, and I could tell she didn't really care which one I chose. She just wanted it to begin.

Now, which should I choose? One option involves unnecessary pain and agony, while the other involves hurting my pride a little (okay, a lot) but getting much, much better results in the long run.

Being the intelligent person that I am, I naturally did the obvious thing.

I got to my feet, bowed low, and charged at Artemis's knee-caps.

Needless to say, I lost that battle, and the next several hours were filled with the most pain imaginable.

By the time she left the tent, covered in my blood, I was bruised on approximately every part of my body. I had a broken nose and a split lip, at least one cracked rib, and I'm pretty sure I was paralyzed from the waist down.

My ring (which I had somehow managed to not lose) must have had magical properties, because the pain in my right hand was slightly dulled, but overall it wasn't very effective.

My vision started to fade to black, and I tried to muster the strength to pull myself onto the bed, but, alas, I could not.

So I spend my first day as my own person again slumped on the floor, trying not to scream in agony.

-/-/-/-/

"Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. Thalia, I need some ambrosia and nectar, asap. I can't believe she lived through this!" I heard Phoebe's voice say. My eyelids were swollen shut though, so I couldn't be sure that it was her. "Emily, can you hear me? If you can, try to move your hand or something."

It required all of my energy, but I managed to twitch my arm just enough to get Phoebe's attention.

"She's alive! Thank goodness! Emily, hold on tight. Thalia is on her way with the ambrosia and nectar. You are going to be all right."

I snorted at that, and promptly almost vomited from the sheer agony of all my combined injuries.

Apparently, Thalia had gotten back, an before I knew it, a warm, delicious liquid was pouring down my throat. Most of my pain went away, and my eyes even de-swelled enough for me to see.

Phoebe was tearing a weird golden brownie thing into small pieces, while Thalia was pacing nervously next to the bed. She saw that I was awake, and se knelt next to Phoebe, who started shoving the small pieces into my mouth.

"An empathy bond? It all makes sense now! That's why she flinched when I shocked you! I thought she just didn't want to see you get hurt. Man was I wrong. I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine." I breathed wishing I could say more.

The feeling (utter torment) was returning to my legs, and it occurred to me that this would have been the second time I would have been paralyzed. Luckily for me, I have a great Olympian mother who always looks out for me... Oh wait...

"Can you speak?" Phoebe asked when all the ambrosia was gone.

I swallowed, winced, and said "Thank you. Are you" *cough cough cry out in agony* "a daughter of Apollo?"

She nodded. "Yep. Luckily for you, eh? Man, I can't believe Artemis would do this. This isn't like her at all!"

I rolled my eyes at her, pleased that I could do this one thing without anguish.

Phoebe frowned sympathetically at me.

She sat on the crate and I involuntarily flinched, remembering the last occupant.

"What happens now?" I asked, trying to sit up and collapsing with a squeal.

"Well, if you still want to join the Hunters, don't know why you would though, you need to see Lady Artemis to get your first task."

My stomach lurched at the thought of seeing her. "Are there any other way to get the job without coming into contact with her?"

Thalia shook her head. "Think positively though. After your task, you only have a little archery contest and a mock-swordfight until you are in. And I'm sure she's willing to postpone your trials for a later time if you ask for it."

"I doubt it. Okay, let's go. Can you guys..." I trailed off awkwardly, but Phoebe and Thalia got the message. They helped me up and together, I managed to hobble out the door.

The sky was dark, and my breath nearly froze in my nostrils. I hadn't noticed before, but Thalia and Phoebe were decked out in many, many layers. Stupid Canadian Winter.

My weather protecting kicked in a couple seconds later, so I didn't have to endure the agony of freezing burns and cuts for very long.

The wind was blowing a lot of snow around, and I didn't see any Hunters out and about, which saved me a lot of curious glances.

We reached Artemis's tent, and they stopped, so I went in alone.

The tent was nice and warm, and I noticed a large white wolf laying its massive head across Artemis's lap. It growled at me as I came in, and I recognized it as the wolf who chased me up the tree.

"Lady Artemis." I said, bowing my head.

"Ah. You lived. I knew I had enough control. But why are you invading my presense? If it's another fool-hardy attack," I mentally saw myself ram into her again, and promptly cursed my past-self. "then go ahead."

"I would like to know what my first task is, my liege." I said, looking at the ground instead of her.

She leapt to her feet and I flinched, but didn't flee like all my instincts were screaming to do.

"You aren't giving up on joining the Hunters? Why the Hades not?" she roared, clearly upset. "If it because you think you have friends, I'll crush that illusion in a heartbeat."

"I wish to become a maiden of the Hunt."

"No, you don't. Run away. Run away and never come back, or I'll turn you into a flea and crush you."

My legs moved a bit, but I fought it with every ounce of my dwindling willpower. "No my Lady. I will not retreat."

She looked at me sadly. "You should have. Life would have been so much easier for you. But if you insist, I have your first task. Follow me."

She stood up and walked outside. It was almost peaceful, with little wisps of snow blowing around us.

Until Artemis pulled out her bow.

Keep in mind that this was the same bow that sent arrows through my leg and my shoulder.

Ignoring my wince if past-pain, she aimed her bow at the top of the largest tree around, and shot a golden arrow that I saw for a brief second. It looked like it was made of real gold, and I wondered if Apollo gave it to her.

It disappeared into the pine tree's needles.

"Go get it." she said, walking back in her tent.

I was still standing with my mouth open in awe of the gargantuan monster that the tree was. There was no doubt in my mind that if I climbed to the top, I could see straight into Olympus.

When Artemis retreated into the warm safety of her tent, I started walking towards the tree, muttering a quick "Please, oh please, don't let me fall".

I reached the base, and, not seeing any other option, began to climb.

The climb was easy at first, but soon my numerous injuries slowed me down to a ridiculous pace.

The snow didn't stop, and it got harder and harder to see where the next branches were.

Now, everyone always tell you not to look down. If you are smart, you will listen to them. Otherwise you may look down, see the dizzying distance between you and the ground, and promptly have a panic attack.

After I finished hyperventilating, I continued climbing, thinking of happier things to distract myself.

The only Psych episode that I found the pineapple. Getting lost on a car trip with my dad and ending up in Missouri. The prank Ward and I played on the Ares Cabin.

Those warm and fuzzy thoughts distracted me from my pain long enough for me to reach the top.

The arrow was about 3 inches into the tree, so it took a lot of tugging and wiggling to get it out, but eventually I could hold the thing in my hand.

Looking around, I felt more at peace than I had ever felt before. Sure, the second I touched the ground, all of life's troubles would hit me like a semi-truck. But right now, up in this tree, it felt like nothing could hurt me.

Until the branch I was standing on broke, and sent me through two rows of branches before my arms caught on a thick branch. The arrow was still in my hand, so I put it in my mouth so I could use both hands

Looking down, I felt the insane urge to jump, to be weightless in the air, if only for a brief instant.

Realizing that jumping would most certainly result in my death, I started climbing down instead, focusing completely on my footing.

After a couple more slips and more than a couple bouts of swearing (which is still bad, kiddies), I reached the bottom of the tree. I jumped the last foot or so, stumbled into Artemis's tent, threw the arrow at her, and stumbled back to my tent, more than half asleep.

-/-/-/-/-

The next morning, I awoke to a ravenous hunger, one that the world has never seen the likes of which before (Okay fine. I haven't seen the likes of which before).

There was a large platter of grilled meat and vegetables, and I tore into it like my dad at Thanksgiving.

When I was so full that I could barely sigh happily, I remembered that I still had two more tasks.

Walking outside, I noticed that the day was a lot clearer, and the Hunters were out and about.

As I passed, I attracted a bunch of looks, and not all of them seemed hostile. In fact, from the brief snatches of conversation I overheard, amazement seemed to be the feeling running rampant through the camp.

Instantly, my demeanor changed from a tired, hurt little girl to a swaggering, brave hero off to her next adventure.

And it instantly changed back when I entered Artemis's tent and saw her angry look.

I bowed quickly, wishing I could revert back to former swaggering status.

She flicked her fingers and pain ripped through me, cutting off all other emotion.

I thought it would continue for a long time, but she stopped after only a few seconds.

"That was for throwing the arrow at me like I was a dog. Sit down," she said, gesturing to a chair as she sat in a replica of her large, silver throne on Olympus.

I sat, still wincing from her little crucio, and waited.

"How the deviled egg did you do that so quickly? You weren't gone for more than two hours! Who did you call in? Apollo? Hermes?"

"No one!" I exclaimed defensively. "I climbed that pronking tree all on my own!"

She snapped, and ropes sprang up from the chair and wrapped around me.

My breathing turned erratic, and my hands started shaking.

She walked over to me and laid her hand on my forehead.

_My entire climb went through my head, and I refelt the pain of all of my injuries, (which had healed up nicely overnight.)_

Artemis left my memory, wincing slightly. "Wow. You actually did it."

"Be careful there, Artemis. That almost sounded like a compliment." I said sarcastically. "Perish the thought."

She scowled. "Don't sass me. Now, your next task is to get 200 bull's-eyes, in a row. Follow me."

She led me to a target, and summoned my old bow, which I thought I had lost. Also, she handed me a quiver, and then stood back.

I nocked an arrow, and aimed carefully. Perfect bull's-eye. Same thing with the next 198 shots.

My aiming became so steady that I didn't even have to look to see if I made it, and the time I spent shooting became a blur.

About an hour, and one extremely sore arm later, I was at arrow number 200.

I took a deep breath, aimed, released, and watched in disbelief as my arrow changed direction in mid-air and flew drastically to the left.

"Darn. Better try again." Artemis said, without an ounce of care in her voice.

I turned to face her. "You did that. I saw your hand move."

She shrugged. "So what? I'm an Olympian and you are a puny little half-blood. Why shouldn't I cheat? Unless," her eyes darkened dangerously. "you want to argue the subject?"

I gritted my teeth and turned back to the target, formulating a plan in my mind.

Artemis sat down on a nearby log again, whistling a merry tune.

Again, I got to 199. Then, I lurched over, gasping for air.

"Help me," I panted, clutching at my chest. Artemis leapt to her feet and ran over towards me.

"What's wrong?" she asked, crouching down next to me.

"Can't...breathe. Get.. Phoebe..." I panted out, feeling my eyelids sink down.

Her eyes widened (probably at the thought of Zeus blaming her for this) and she rushed off, yelling for Phoebe.

Smiling, I jumped to my feet, aimed carefully, and hit the bull's-eye, just as Phoebe and Artemis appeared.

I smiled at them. "200."

At first, Artemis's shocked face was worth all the pain of the last few days.

And then she started blurring around the edges, approximately 1000 times as mad as she had been when I was kicked out of camp (but that's just a rough estimate.)

I immediately closed my eyes, and nit a second later a blast threw me into a tree.

I heard Phoebe yell, "Lady Artemis! No!"

And then I heard a more sinister voice (Artemis's) spit something in furious Greek that sounded like "Burn in Hades."

And I fell into the pit of black nothingness.

**AN2: I would like to thank you all for sticking to my story, it really meant a lot. All those reviews really made my story what it is, and I can't thank you enough. Wait, you think this is the end? Heck no! In slight seriousness, I'm sorry for this chapter's quality. It was shockingly hard to write, but I have no idea why. Anyway, review if you have any questions, comments, or concerns (except for my mental stability. That's long gone.) Thanks, and gods bless. PS: 195. **


	24. They Seek Me Here, They Seek Me There

**AN: Your reviews always make me smile, when I read them I am happy for a long while. **

_Actually, the pit wasn't as deep as I thought. _

_I hit the bottom of the metaphorical pit (which didn't hurt for some reason), and looked around. It was mostly black, but I could look up and see a small speck of light. _

_"Pretty dark down here, isn't it?" a voice said from behind me. _

_I whipped around, but still couldn't see anything. _

_"Who's there?" I asked, squinting to try to discern who it was. _

_"Oh, pardon me." the mysterious voice said. "Here." _

_Suddenly, I was in a white room, sitting in a chair facing a white table. There was another chair, and in it was a tall, dark man. His skin had the faint glow that usually identified gods, and he looked perfectly at ease. _

_I, on the other hand, was not even a little bit at ease. _

_"Who are you? Where am I?" I asked, remembering at the last second to add a "sir." _

_He smiled at me. "Well, it depends on what you consider yourself to be. Your body is currently in the Hunters of Artemis's camp and, if I'm not mistaken, she is currently blasting you with enough energy to have a herd of rhinos begging for mercy." he winced. "Ow. I think that was a rib. Your mind, however, is in one of the deepest realms of mine. I had to take you deep to shield you from your mother. That's child abuse if I've ever seen it. I'm Morpheus by the way. God of sleep and dreams." _

_I shook his hand. "Emily Wolf. Mortal of making people angry and blacking out from pain. I hope I'm not being rude, but I have a question, Lord Morpheus." _

_"Shoot. But don't call me Lord Morpheus. It's too formal. Just call me Morph." he said easily. _

_I was slightly taken aback by his casual conversation. Artemis had always told me that she was the most lenient of the Greek Gods, but almost every single one I've met has been 300% nicer. _

_"Okay, Morph, why did you rescue me? Not that I'm ungrateful. But why?" _

_He smiled. "Let me set something straight. I've always saved you. Every time someone passes out due to pain or shock, I'm there. I'm the one who saves them from going insane. You have been a frequent customer lately. Anyway, this time I was doing a favor for another god. They'll be here in a second. Well, there's a little girl who watched a scary movie and can't sleep now. Sigh. My bread and butter. I'm off!" _

_And he disappeared, leaving me alone in the practically empty room. _

_But only for a couple seconds before a huge golden door appeared out of nowhere. _

_I hastily got to my feet and backed away. _

_The door opened, and Aphrodite strolled in and sat at the other chair. _

_"Hey Emily. What's up?" _

_She was looking her usual self, American Eagle top with Buckle jeans and a purse, and her face was open and friendly. _

_Backing up, I hit a white wall. "What are you doing here?" _

_She smiled, a suspiciously friendly smile. "Now, is that anyway to treat your savior?" _

_I narrowed my eyes. "Morpheus saved me." _

_"Who do you think asked him to?" she asked brightly. _

_I stumbled over and sat down on the chair and put my elbows on the table. "Why?" _

_She frowned. "Well, I had a feeling that you and Artemis would come to blows eventually. So I asked Morpheus to watch out for you." _

_"Why?" _

_"You really don't trust me, do you? Oh well. I barely trust me." she said, with a hint of tragedy "I just wanted a formal chance to apologize. I am so sorry for being so mean to you." _

_I frowned. "What's your angle, Aphrodite?" _

_She smiled. "Emily, what have I been doing since you first met me?" _

_"Being a total-" _

_"Don't make me hurt you." _

_I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Every time I've seen you you've been trying to capture Artemis." _

_She nodded. "Exactly. And how many times have you blacked out because of her cruel treatment?" _

_I tried to remember all of them, but I quickly lost count. "Fine, I get your point. But why am I here?" _

_"Listen. Artemis has offended both of us, and she needs to be taught a lesson." _

_Automatically, I started shaking my head. "Never. I would rather bathe a bloodthirsty puma than cooperate with you in any way." _

_"Okay, whatever. Coward." she spat, standing up and turning away. _

_I stood up too. "No, I'm not a coward. I'm loyal to my mom." _

_"Why? What has she done for you? Do you really consider her your mother? I see relationships. There isn't one between you two." I winced a little bit. This was true. "You know what? You'll see sense eventually. Here." she flipped a coin at me, and I grabbed it. "Tap this twice and you'll be teleported to where I am. And one last thought: together we can make her regret every single ounce of misery that she's made you feel." _

_Before I could say anything, she opened the door and left. _

_Suddenly, I floated up towards the ceiling, yelling, until I was an inch away from the light, _

and I woke up, gasping, on the Cot of Healing.

This time it was only Phoebe who was there when I woke up.

"Why am I always in this tent?" I asked with a small snort of amusement. My outward appearance of nonchalance was to disguise the utter confusion and uncertainty I felt at Aphrodite's deal (in case you didn't pick that up).

Phoebe remained cold. "Why? Why do you do the things you do? She destroyed 4 tents in her rage!"

I tried to suppress my giggles. "That's a bummer. But she was cheating! I passed that test fair and square!"

Phoebe rolled her eyes and smiled faintly. "I seriously can't believe all the trouble you get in. Dang, Artemis was spitting angry. She even sliced me because I tried to restrain her."

She rolled up her sleeves, and I saw a large bandage covering most of her arm.

"WHAT? She cut you? I'll kill her!" I yelled sitting up.

A couple minutes later, after my screams of agony and profanity, I was laying back on the bed and Phoebe was shaking her head.

"You honestly never learn. Approximately 27% of your bones have minor fractures. I'm amazed you aren't feeling more pain. Anyways, nobody knows where Artemis went. It's probably best that you are long gone by the time she gets back."

I shook my head. "Why does nobody understand? I didn't put up with two extensive torture sessions just to quit now. I'm almost there! One more little sword-fight and I'm in!"

Phoebe sighed and started rubbing her temples.

"Okay, let's go over the facts. One: Artemis has come close to killing you three times."

"Five." I interrupted. "I think. Maybe six."

Phoebe motioned for me to shush.

"Two: You have approximately 56 broken bones. Three: Your final task is to sword fight someone, but I bet you can't even hold a sword. Four: As soon as Artemis comes back, she's going to finish her job and possibly eat your soul. So, in conclusion, there is no way that you staying here will result in anything other than misery for everyone involved."

"May I list a couple facts of my own? One: If Artemis could kill me, she would have done it already. Two: I only have one trial left before I am done with all my initiation. No more ridiculous tasks! See, the numbers balance out!"

"That's only 2-" Phoebe tried to interrupt, but I waved her off.

"And," I said, sitting up gingerly. "I'm healing rapidly. Plus, I'm pretty sure I have enough natural agility and flexibility to get through any sword fight."

Phoebe snorted. "Fine. If you can stand up, and then touch your toes without collapsing in agony, then I'll go along with any crazy scheme you can think up."

I smiled. "Deal. Man, you are going to regret this- UNHOLY DAUGHTER OF HADES!"

Needless to say, I was on the ground, definitely not crying (heh.), and Phoebe helped me back into the cot.

"Dang kid. You're messed up." she said, shaking her head.

Not rewarding that with a response, I laid back down, exhaling sharply in pain.

"So, do you want to leave or do I need to carry you out?" Phoebe asked, sitting back down on her crate.

"Fine. Let me take a nap, and then we can figure something out." I said, covering my eyes with the crook of my elbow.

If she responded, I didn't hear it. I was too far gone into the deepest realms of Morpheus's dark domain.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Hey, Emily. Get up." I heard a voice say urgently. "She's coming."

I quickly opened my eyes, knowing exactly who Phoebe was referring to.

Light-headed, I stood up, just as Artemis entered the tent.

She had this sort of icy calm about her, and she honestly didn't seem to notice my numerous injuries. I flinched a bit, but I wasn't as scared of her as I normally was.

"You have one last task. You will engage someone of my choosing in a sword-fight, to the death."

Thalia, who had entered right behind Artemis, gasped. "Lady Artemis, surely you can't mean that!"

Phoebe and I had been staring open-mouthed at her too, but Artemis ignored us and turned to Thalia.

"Why not? My Hunters, my rules." Artemis said, crossing her arms.

Thalia took a deep breath. "Yes, but you know perfectly well that you can't orchestrate

Emily's death. Father would force you to disband us, and I don't know what we would do with our lives."

"Get happily married and live out your days in the comfort and safety of a home with a family who loves you and not having to worry about an insan- Ow!" Phoebe had back-handed me in the shoulder, and it hurt.

Thalia glared at me for a second an then faced Artemis. "This is just a mock-fight. Please, be reasonable."

Maybe there was a special bond between them, because Artemis nodded, and she certainly wouldn't have done that with anyone else.

"Fine. It'll be a private battle. Thalia, I choose you to be her opponent."

Thalia turned a sickly pale, but I didn't see what the big deal was.

"My Lady-" Thalia started.

Artemis raised an eyebrow threateningly. "Don't push me. One concession is enough for today. You will fight her in one hour, using your usual techniques. That is my final word."

And Artemis left, with Thalia following her, pleading for Artemis to change her mind.

"Oh gods." Phoebe muttered, pacing back and forth across the small tent floor.

I didn't see why she was freaking out. "What's the big deal? If anything, this is good. Thalia is my friend, so she won't tear me into too many shreds. If anything, this is a blessing in disguise."

Phoebe looked at me with pity in her eyes. "You don't get it. Sword fighting is Thalia's specialty. Her signature move," Phoebe shuddered "is called the electric chair. When her opponents are on the ground, she cuts them, usually a thin scratch on their arm, and then shoots 1,000,000 volts of electricity into them. And Lady Artemis practically just said that she requires it. This is bad."

I winced a little at her explanation. "Okay, I can deal with the pain. No problem."

Phoebe shook her head. "I'll be right back."

And she left me alone, and I sat on my sad little cot in the tent that still had my bloodstains on the walls.

Phone wasn't gone for long, so I didn't have time to plan any mischief. Darn.

"Here," she said, laying down pieces of what looked like armor. She lifted a particularly long piece and helped me put it on.

After about 20 minutes of me squirming and her threatening to make me face Thalia on my own if I didn't calm down, finally, I was ready.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to sit up.

I couldn't.

Not because of the pain (but that didn't exactly help), but because of the weight. Even if I had been in perfect condition, this weight still would have been a hindrance.

"Help?" I asked weakly.

Phoebe pulled me to a sit-up position. "Can you stand?"

I tried. The armor was a little big on me, and I felt like I was bouncing around in it, but it interlocked with itself, forming a suit of armor. I wasn't holding it up, it was holding me up. Which was probably Phoebe's plan.

"Great. Hey, do you have any of that ambrosia left?" I asked, stretching what muscles I could.

Phoebe nodded. "Here." She took a piece out of her pocket and handed it to me.

I chewed it carefully, savoring every part of it.

"Thanks." I told her gratefully. "Can I ask you a question? Why are you helping me?"

She smiled at me wearily. "Because you're my friend. Because I don't like to see people in pain. Because it's the right thing to do. And, because I know deep down that Artemis loves you, and I don't want you to get irreparably damaged by her."

I snorted at her comment about Artemis loving me, and I thought again about Aphrodite's offer. With my current pain, it was looking pretty tempting.

Phoebe checked her watch. "Oh lemur. We have to get going. Here, take this sword."

I grabbed it with my now-gauntleted hand, and, to my delight, could hold it with only minor pain.

Phoebe led me to a small clearing, where Thalia and Artemis already were. Thalia was pacing nervously back and forth, but Artemis was sitting calmly on a big rock.

Artemis scowled at my layers upon layers of protection, but Thalia looked slightly relieved.

"Are you ready?" Artemis asked after Phoebe had sat on the ground next to her "Go."

Thalia and I faced each other, and before I knew it, I was on the ground with a faint tingling that felt suspiciously like electricity. I got to my feet, without any idea of how, and charged at her.

She was in her element, and I was in what was about as heavy as a small car, and our battle reflected it.

Most of my swings were diverted in mid air, and most of hers weren't. It seemed like she was going easy on me, though, a fact I appreciated a lot.

Finally, Thalia had me on the ground, with no sword in my hand and her sword at my throat.

"I win." she said to Artemis, and then smiled apologetically at me.

"Not yet." Artemis said, to my horror. "She's still conscious."

"My Lady, she can't do me any damage. I doubt she can get up again."

Artemis's eyes went black. "Finish her."

Thalia frowned at me, and then sliced my arm, just like Phoebe said she would.

Then, she sent a small spark that quickly erupted into a wildfire of pain once it got in my circulation.

"Happy now?" I spat at Artemis as my world went blank.

-/-/-/-/

I awoke on my own, a fact I liked. This way I could howl loudly at all of my injuries.

My shoulder cut was pounding away, and my stomach didn't feel good, and I blamed everything on Artemis. I reached into my pocket, and pulled out the coin Aphrodite had given me.

It was a normal quarter, so I wondered why she had it. There was a faint aura of power about it.

I looked at my two options: one, disappear and just try to avoid Artemis for the rest of my life (Apollo's ring). Two: make Artemis pay for every injury she's ever given me, and convince her that she isn't the coolest cat in the world (that would be me). Tempting. So tempting.

I took my ring off, and immediately felt a little colder.

Putting the ring in my right pocket and the coin in the left, I walked out into the cold Canadian day. My armor was gone, and I half-wondered what had happened to it, but I was in my normal Hunter's clothes, which weren't as much protection as I would have liked.

I walked to Artemis's tent, and stepped inside.

All the Hunters were assembled there in rows (yes, it's that big), and they appeared to be waiting for me. This can't be good.

Just to keep up pretenses, I bowed and said "My Lady."

"Kneel before me," Artemis said from her throne, and I kneeled, about 5 feet away from her. "We have an announcement to make."

Positive that she was going to let me into the Hunters, I didn't say anything.

"You have broken the rules on all three of your trials."

"What?" I exploded. "I did everything right!"

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Silence. In your first task, you broke too many branches on

our prized tree."

My jaw twitched and I barely held in my anger.

"Secondly, you deceived me into thinking you were in serious danger, so I didn't see you draw back your arrow."

I chuckled a little bit at that. That was fun. Except for the small explosion afterwards.

"And thirdly, you didn't put your own armor on for the sword fight."

"I couldn't! I could barely move! And it was your fault!"

She ignored me. "So, I declare all of your tasks invalid. You have start from the beginning."

I saw red. There was no way I was going to do all of those pronking things again.

"Why? Why do you put me through this?"

Artemis smiled lazily. "Because I don't want you here. And I'll keep doing exactly what I'm doing until you quit."

I stood up. A couple of the Hunters shifted, like they were getting ready to protect Artemis in case I turned rabid (wouldn't be the first time).

Then, I realized something about Artemis. "You are a child. You are a spoiled little brat who refuses to grow up like everyone else. And you won't, because you leech onto the protection of your daddy and your big bad older brother. You know full well that I deserve to be in here, but you are too selfish to think of anyone but yourself. That's why you broke your vow. Zeus probably wasn't giving you enough attention, so you acted out. And I'm re result of your stupid choice, but you don't want to deal with anyone who questions your way of living! I feel sorry for you. It must be hard not being able to do anything by yourself, always relying on others to carry you through." Two pockets, two choices.

Artemis stood up angrily, and her aura started glowing fiercely. "You are going to regret every word you just said."

"I doubt it." I said.

I slipped my hand into my pocket, and disappeared.

**AN2: Yes, another cliff-hanger. Yes, another reason to egg my house. Review if you liked, lie if you didn't (kidding). Sorry for the rushed feel (yet again.) Thanks, and gods bless. PS: 206. **


	25. If We Ever Meet Again

Spinning through space, I wondered if I made the wrong choice. What was going to happen once I got where I was going?

I materialized, and immediately beheld a horrifying sight.

Aphrodite and Ares kissing each other passionately was not something I ever wanted to see. They were in their mortal forms, but my eyes still seemed like they were burning. I looked away from the odious couple, and noticed we were in an Olympian room (yeah, I can identify those on sight now.)

"Emily!" Aphrodite exclaimed, pulling apart from Ares, who didn't look happy about the disturbance. "You made your choice?"

I nodded. "Artemis deserves whatever we give her."

"That she does." Aphrodite said, smiling broadly. "This is a very pleasant turn of events.

Let me show you something. Ares, would you?"

Looking grumpy, Ares held out his arm.

'He won't bite,' I thought to myself, and, using every drop of willpower, I grabbed his elbow, lightly.

Suddenly, we were shooting through the air. I could see Ares next to me, looking bored, but I couldn't see Aphrodite.

We landed in what looked like a hunting lodge, and I noticed a bunch of teenagers chilling around the place.

I immediately tensed and looked for an exit when I recognized Adrestia, Anteros, and the two Aphrodite girls whose names don't matter. Seamus was, unfortunately, absent.

When they saw Ares, they all leapt to their feet and saluted. When they saw me, however, they did not respond nearly as kindly. In fact, most of them reached for the nearest weapon. I saw a lamp, a remote control, a ping pong paddle, and an antler of some kind.

Ares chuckled, and his eyes shone with pride at his kids. "Stand down kiddos. This special little flower is under my protection. No playing."

There were a couple groans, and they returned to their previous positions, with the exception of Adrestia, who remained suspicious.

"I have a couple questions," I said, relaxing a tad. "First of all, why are you guys here?"

Ares chuckled once, almost disbelievingly. "You don't think we can just march in there and grab Artemis, do you? Her pesky little hunters are like thorns in my side, but Aphrodite has specifically said no maiming, so I called my kids in. They are going to distract the Hunters while we deal with Artemis."

I frowned. I had forgotten about the Hunters. "But you won't hurt them right?"

Adrestia looked up at Ares for a brief second with a question in her eyes. "Of course not. We detain, nothing else."

I smiled awkwardly, not believing her for a second. "Okay. That's good. Hey, is there any bed I could rest in? I've had a rough couple of days."

Adrestia snorted. "'A rough couple day's? I fought a grizzly bear and a lion at the same time, and then made it back to camp in time to win Capture the Flag."

"That's impossible. Lions and grizzlies live in different hemispheres. If you are going to lie to try to impress your dad, at least make the lie believable." I said, smirking at her.

A bright crimson glow surrounded her. Man, one minute and somebody already wants to kill me. New high score!

Ares jumped in front of us, reluctantly.

"Aphrodite won't care about her for much longer. Hold your temper for a couple days." he told Adrestia, who growled and flopped down on the couch.

I couldn't resist one last parting jibe. "That growl was impressive. Did you learn it from your fictitious battle with the kraken? Oh, fictitious means fake."

She leapt to her feet, but before she could get to me, Ares grabbed my shoulder and teleported me to a bedroom, where he proceeded to backhand me in the mouth, making me bleed.

"Fghr yue!" I yelled, spitting the blood out of my mouth and onto the white carpet, hopefully staining it forever.

"Be grateful it isn't worse. If you mouth off to any of my kids, they will break you. I taught them everything they know." he boasted.

I was literally a second away from saying "So, you taught them nothing? Great job", but he strode out of the room before I could.

Which was probably a good thing.

I collapsed on the bed, holding my mouth. This day had gone from cringe-worthy, to awful, to panic-inducing, to slightly more awful.

Suddenly, it hit me! Apollo's ring!

I reached into my pocket and pulled it out, cradling it in my hands.

Grinning, I slipped the ring on, inhaled deeply, and... realized something was wrong.

I spun the ring around frantically, but nothing happened. The ring was cold, and I grimaced.

This is bad. Very very bad.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

I was in the process of pacing back and forth, when the door opened. I had tried it earlier, so I was kinda surprised when it opened.

Aphrodite walked in, followed by Ares.

"Okay. It's decided. We are going to attack tomorrow. All we need now is the location of the camp."

I sat down on my bed. "About that... I'm not sure that I want to do this."

Ares stepped forward with a dithyrambic expression on his face. "I could torture it out of you, if it would help any."

"No Ares. Don't make me make you wait outside." Aphrodite admonished him.

Ares smirked. "I'd love to see you try, babe."

I shuddered, bringing their attention back to me.

Aphrodite smiled at me, like I was a little kid who didn't know what I was talking about. "Okay. So, you want Artemis to continue to abuse you without any consequences whatsoever?"

I growled. She really knew how to rankle my pride. "Of course not."

"Then help us. It's the only way you'll get any justice."

My conscience was battling fiercely with my pride, until I made my decision. "The camp is 9 miles west of Cedarville. That's somewhere in Canada. There is a massive tree right outside the camp, the biggest one for miles, and a small creek runs along the southern edge. That's all I remember."

Ares and Aphrodite grinned at each other. "Thank you for the information."

"I have one request though. I want to be there. Give me a bow or something."

Ares shrugged. "Sure. But you should know that your arrows won't hurt Aphrodite or I."

I smiled sarcastically. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Aphrodite left, quickly pecking Ares on the cheek.

"Okay. We are leaving tomorrow. Get a good nights sleep. You'll need it." And he left, turning off the lights to the room.

I laid back in the bed, trying to ignore the guilt that was tearing at my stomach.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Rise and shine. It's time to bring Artemis down." Aphrodite said, popping in my room.

I had just dozed off into an uneasy slumber when she had woken me up, so I didn't respond as quickly as I normally would have.

"You have ten minutes. Here's some food. And fix your hair." she snapped her fingers and a plate of eggs and bacon appeared, along with a brush.

"Thanks," I mumbled, wondering if the guilty pangs in my stomach would let me eat.

She left, and I dug in.

The eggs were delicious, but brushing my hair was the second hardest thing I had ever done (bowing to Artemis was the hardest).

During my travels, I had accumulated leaves, dried blood, popcorn, cornflakes (yeah, I have no idea), and more dried blood, all in my hair. It required all of my arm and back muscles to pull the brush just once.

Finally taming my hair into a more manageable disaster, I walked out, unable to look at myself in the mirror.

All of the Ares and Aphrodite kids were dressed in full battle gear, and the effect wasn't comforting.

Ares and Aphrodite scanned over all the troops, making slight adjustments here and there.

He tossed me a bow, a black, ugly thing, and a quiver of arrows and a gray hoodie, which I hurriedly slipped over my t-shirt.

"Hit any one of our kids and you'll be worse off than Artemis, I swear." Ares said, threateningly.

"Okay everybody remember. Watch your back, try to engage them in sword fighting. Let's do this!" Ares shouted, and all of the campers roared in unison. Ares and Aphrodite snapped, and suddenly, we were all in the middle of the Hunter's camp.

I was conveniently placed in a tree, so I started sniping.

Aiming for the ground, I almost convinced myself that this was just another target practice where I had to avoid limbs.

Until someone grabbed my foot and yanked me out of the tree.

I landed heavily on my back, and felt someone's sword at my throat. my hood had fallen over my eyes, and I was too scared to remove it.

"What kind of coward snipes during a battle? And your aiming sucked!" my attacker snarled. "Who are you? A child of Aphrodite?"

"That was below the belt!" I said indignantly as my hood was ripped off my face.

"You..." Thalia said, taking a step back in horror. "You were a spy for Aphrodite the whole time?"

"No! Of course not! I would never do that!" I insisted, shocked that she would even think that about me.

"That's kinda what it looks like! You have 2 minutes-" There was a loud crash, followed by a increase in the battle yells. "Make that 1 minute. Go."

I took a deep breath. "Aphrodite appeared to me in a dream a couple days ago and promised to make Artemis pay for all the thing she did to me. She gave me a coin to tap and it teleported me to her. It was right after she had said that none of my tasks counted and I was really, really mad. Then I was with them and it was too late to turn back and I told them where the camp was, but it was really stupid and I've regretted it ever since! I had no idea that they were going to bring all their kids!" I concluded with an gasp for air.

For a second, Thalia looked torn.

"Curse you to the darkest depths of Tartarus, Emily! Gah! Fine. Stay here, and if you snipe any one of my hunters ever again, I'll shoot you through your heart."

She ran off, leaving me alone, my guilt intensified tenfold.

Naturally, I followed her to see how the battle was going.

Short answer: bad.

Long answer: .

Most of the Hunters were seriously injured, but they were bravely holding off the A/A kids.

Artemis and Thalia were fighting side-by-side against Aphrodite and Ares, so I decided to join the fray.

I slide-tackled Ares legs, or, at least attempted to.

My legs crumpled against his armor and he shot a blast at me without even looking down.

Skidding to a stop about 15 feet away, I looked around.

Then, I heard it.

"Hey Artemis?" said Aphrodite in mid-battle "Guess what? It was me. I made you break your vow. It was-" she swung at Artemis, who had been standing there, open-mouthed. Thalia leapt in front of the blow, and it blasted her sideways about 40 feet. "right after we defeated the titans the third time, and you were drunk. It was me! And now, you are going to be destroyed, once and for all." she cackled evilly, and I couldn't believe what I had just heard (except for the destroying part. That fit in pretty well with the setting.)

I saw Thalia land heavily, and not get up, and then it hit me. Artemis was going to lose.

Then, I did the thing I should have done at the beginning of the battle: I turned the ring on

my finger.

Warmth flooded through me, and Apollo appeared a second later, in full battle gear, thank the pandas.

"Hey, niece. I was just practicing my-" he noticed where he was, what was happening, and with a terrifying roar, charged into Ares.

Apollo's appearance appeared to encourage the Hunters, and they started to drive the A/A kids back. I started crawling along towards Thalia, who wasn't moving.

I crawled around the fighting gods and goddesses, who were moving too fast for me to see what was happening, and I eventually reached Thalia.

I placed my hand on her neck, and, after a few seconds, felt a weak, but steady pulse.

"You're okay, you're okay," I muttered, pulling her farther into the tree line.

My legs weren't working so well, and my energy was depleted, leaving me unconscious on the forest floor.

-/-/-/-/-/-

I awoke to the sound of birds chirping, which was oddly peaceful.

Yawning widely, I looked around. I was in a white, sterile looking room that I didn't recognize.

I was on a bed with a light blue blanket, which wasn't covering my legs in the slightest.

My legs were wrapped in heavy bandages and held up with some sort of hammock contraption, which actually was pretty comfortable.

There was a long tube leading into my arm, and I could see a clear liquid seeping into my veins. Old-Emily (pre-Ms. Lynch attack) would have freaked out (and maybe even Post-Emily too) but I was too sleepy to care at this particular moment.

My hands were handcuffed to the sides of the bed, which confused me.

Until the police officer walked in.

"Ah. Ms. Wolf. You are finally awake."

He said. He was wearing the typical, blue cop uniform with a radio and what looked like a gun at his belt.

"Yes. And why am I handcuffed?"

"You are under arrest for a severe case of underage driving. You apparently fled school after an altercation with a teacher and drove off, illegally, colliding with a tree. You have the right to remain silent..." he continued reading off my rights, and my brain froze at the thought that everything had been a dream. Artemis, the Olympians, everything.

I looked at the officer carefully. There was something off about him...

"I don't remember anything, Officer... Apollo!"

His smile froze, and the world melted away, becoming the Olympian room I knew so

well.

Apollo stood there before me, grinning.

"You jerk," I laughed, trying to sit up. My legs were taped to what looked like giant Popsicle sticks. "You actually had me going there for a second."

He laughed and lounged in a cushy chair. "What gave me away?"

"Your officer had glowing golden eyes."

He chuckled. "I knew I forgot something. So, how are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "Not bad, not great. How is Thalia?"

"Thalia is fine," he reassured me. "She's resting up nicely in the room right next to this one. You can visit her later."

"Why are my legs taped like this?" I gestured to the Popsicle stick arrangement.

"Well, that's actually my fault. You broke both your legs when you collided with Ares, and that ring I gave you started healing you, with your legs in the wrong positions. That would have been awful to rebreak."

I winced at the thought, and then asked a question more troubling.

"How is Artemis?"

Apollo didn't answer me for a couple seconds, and I sat there in guilty silence.

Finally, "Well, I don't really know. After we disintegrated Ares and Aphrodite, she immediately took off running. I stayed behind to start the healing processes. But, is it true that you led them to camp?"

I hung my head in shame. "Yes."

He walked over and laid a hand on my forehead, which happens to me a lot.

Every other mind reading attempt had hurt like Hades, but I think he was making a huge effort to be gentle.

He emerged out of my mind, shaking his head. "Oh Artemis. Why do you do the things you do?"

"I usually have good reasons." a voice (of course it's Artemis's) said from behind him.

I didn't flinch like I normally would have. I deserved whatever she did to me.

"Leave us, Apollo."

Apollo left, giving me an encouraging (I think that's what he was trying to convey) smile.

Artemis sat down, looking at me.

"You betrayed me. You betrayed Thalia, and Phoebe, and everybody." The words were icy daggers digging into my heart. "You led to Thalia's almost death. I almost was sent into Tartarus because of you. Do you have any excuse for yourself?"

I shook my head, holding back my tears.

"Well, I do. I am an awful person. I led you to violence. This was completely my fault. I don't blame you."

At those words, I exhaled mightily. "No, it's my fault. I made a stupid deal with Aphrodite and it led to everything going wrong."

Artemis smiled. "That was the best thing that could have happened. Think about it! I know why I broke my vow now! I checked it all out. People said they did see me leave with Aphrodite, heavily intoxicated. Your dad was the first person we saw on the street. And then you happened. The heavy drinking is why my memory is so bad. Of course, when she rematerializes, I'm going to tear her into shrewd and then eat them, but for now, I'm content."

Wow. My entire life happened to exist because my dad felt like he needed a walk.

"I don't know what to say," I said (heh), shaking my head.

"Well, I do. Emily, I am offering you a full-time membership with the Hunters of Artemis. It's yours if you want it."

I thought about all I had been through. The torture, the cold, the lynxes, all of it, just so I could be included in the Hunters. And now here is my opportunity.

"Thank you, Lady Artemis, but I respectfully have to decline." (Raise your hand if you called that.)

She sat there, flabbergasted. "But, why? And if you say it's because of Ward, I will ground you into the next century."

I laughed, surprised at my own decision. "It's not Ward. It's just, I haven't lived my life yet. I still have adventures to go on, things to see. I know I would have a lot of experiences with the Hunters, but I just feel like it's not for me. Maybe in a couple years, when I learn to control myself a little better, but not now."

Artemis shook her head. "I think you were hit harder than you think. Oh well. Get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a big day."

"But I'm not-"

She tapped me on the forehead, and I passed out immediately. Dang it.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

The next morning, I woke up and was greeted by Thalia and Phoebe, and even Willow (remember the satyr from the beginning? Just checking.)

After a lot of hugging and laughing, Thalia had to go rest, and Phoebe had to go help the other Hunters who were injured in the battle.

Willow and I talked for hours, laughing and tearing up (okay, maybe a little bit if crying. But only a little) in turn.

Then, Apollo walked in.

"Ready to see your dad?"

"Yes!" I said enthusiastically.

Apollo smiled, flashing his brilliant white teeth. "Well, the handsome, majestic doctor says you check out, so you're free to go. Take my arm, if you please."

I stood up and took his arm, feeling a little light-headed.

We spun through air, and I focused on not passing out, which was a real struggle.

Landing in my dad's living room, I noticed, to my surprise, that it was put back just the way it had been.

But that didn't matter. My dad and I were together again.

Without speaking, we sprinted and hugged each other fiercely.

During our little display of affection, Artemis had wandered in, followed by... Ward.

My dad reluctantly let go, and I turned to look at Ward.

He was smiling and I rushed to hug him.

Artemis remembered in time to lift the shock, and I could hug him fully for the first time.

Then, my dad ordered pizza, and we had a little party, watching Clash of the Titans and mocking how awful it was. Apollo and Artemis sporadically teleported out of the room to check on the injured, but they were usually back within ten minutes or so.

Having Artemis ask me to pass the popcorn was literally the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me.

Finally, Apollo headed back to Olympus (I think he had a girlfriend there), which left Artemis, Ward, my dad, and I.

"Emily?" Ward asked, after we had faded into a comfortable silence. "Do you want to go get some coffee?"

There was a coffee shop only one block away, but it occurred to me that this was almost a date. Huh.

"Sure. If that's okay..." I looked at my dad, then Artemis.

They both nodded, so we left.

After a great hour or so of laughing and telling stories, the coffee shop closed, so we headed back.

Stopping in front of my door, he reached in to give me a hug good-bye.

And then we were shocked apart.

"It was a one-time deal." Artemis said, opening the door. "You are too young to date."

I turned to look at her. "I'm fifteen! Sixteen in March!"

Artemis glowered at me. "That's no excuse. Not until you are out of college. Maybe later."

"You're ridiculous!" I said. Ward left, laughing, but I hardly noticed. "Just because you went thousands of years without a date doesn't mean I have to!"

"Abstaining from boys taught me a lot about self-control and my priorities."

I laughed derisively. "'Self-control'? You practically erupt if anyone annoys you!"

"Watch it. I will still hurt you."

I turned around and stormed into my room, probably waking up my sleeping dad.

"You're impossible!" I shouted, throwing myself down on the bed.

Then, I was laughing. My heart felt free for the first time in ages. Everything worked out, and I didn't even get murdered in the process.

Of course, Aphrodite and Ares would be back for another round later, but that's a tale for a different tale.

The End.

**AN: The time I spent writing this was very great, and I hoped you enjoyed my story about the little girl from cabin eight. **

**AN2: So, my loyal readers, we have reached a parting of ways. You guys have been the best readers imaginable, and I hate to end it here. It's been a long 18 month journey, hasn't it? Between long hiatuses (hiatusi?) and my terrible writing, it almost didn't get done. But, it had to end sometime, and I thought 25 was a good way to do it. It's kinda odd. When I started this story off, I had no idea that Thalia would enter, or I would meet Morpheus, or any of it. But this doesn't have to be sad (in fact, for some of you its probably a relief). All I'm asking for is one last review about, well, whatever. The story, the weather, whatever. Well, I just wanted to thank you for all your reviews. It's making me sad, but I won't update for a very, very long time. So, for old time's sake, thanks and gods bless.**


	26. Awesome Evolved

**AN: No, my friends, I am not dead. Instead of going on about me, here's a chapter instead.**

"Ready?" Ward asked as we walked into the building.

"I guess," I said, straightening my red dress uncomfortably. This was my first time

wearing it, and it was still giving me some troubles.

Ward was wearing a nice shirt and dress pants, and we looked like we were on our way to a school dance. If my school happened to be populated with hundreds of super-powerful beings, many of whom wanted to kill me. Which it wasn't. So there.

We walked into the elevator and I looked around.

"Isn't there a doorman around here somewhere to press the button?" I asked, remembering what Willow had told me about her visit to Olympus.

Ward shrugged. "There was an incident with a nymph. Now it works on voice control. Like this. Mount Olympus please."

A voice came on the loudspeaker. "Flee, foul spawn of-"

It cut off abruptly and a new voice spoke. "Sorry about that. Going up."

The elevator started to rise, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Is that how they normally greet people?" I asked innocently. "Or is that your super special greeting?

He smiled. "It's a code. For 'Go away.' It's not very sneaky. I have to check in every couple months for evaluation, and every time I get a special greeting. Usually they involve profanity."

"What?" I asked. Why hadn't he mentioned this before? "What do you mean 'evaluation'?"

Ward glanced at the floor counter. Floor numbers 123, 124, and 125 flicked by slowly.

"It's nothing. They just see what I can do and search my memories to make sure I'm not planning any revolts. It's easy. Except for Artem-"

He stopped, but the damage was done.

"My mom participates in this? How did this happen?" I asked. I was already furious with my mom for what happened over Christmas, and this was making it worse.

Ward closed his eyes for a second and I could almost see the mental battle he went through. "It was right after school started. She wanted to... check up on you without you knowing, so she appealed to Zeus. He agrees that I was a potential threat and initiated the tests. Please don't turn this into another reason to fight."

I snorted. This was going to be a great party.

-/-/-/-/

The elevator opened, and I caught my first glimpse of Olympus from the outside.

It was breath-taking, and very noisy. Everywhere I looked there were gods and goddesses in various stages of intoxication, dancing to some music that was coming from nowhere. I had thought ahead and purchased 2 pairs of Immortal-Proof sunglasses from Hepatitis (the god, not the disease), so we didn't have to worry about our eyes burning out. Unless we saw Ares and Aphrodite making out. There is no protection for that.

Ward and I made our way to the main building, where the real party was going down.

After what felt like an hours walk, we finally made it to the front doors, and Ward, the gentleman, held the door for me as we walked inside.

Immediately, I was hit with a burst of music. Normally, I would have screamed and held my bleeding ears, but this wasn't too bad. In fact, it was exactly my style of music.

"Let's get some nectar before we talk to anyone," Ward said into my ear and motioned toward the refreshment table with his head.

I nodded, and grabbed a cup of nectar from the sparkling crystal bowl, which tasted good. Really good.

Then, I saw Apollo, dancing rather closely with someone who looked like she had wings.

Choosing to avoid that horribly awkward situation, I grabbed Ward's hand and lead him to a part of the dance floor that was near a wall and unoccupied, so we could go over the

game plan.

Of course, there was the usual small shock at contact, but I had slowly built up my immunity to it (by holding hands only, don't get excited) and it didn't bother me.

Ward leant in close and said, "Since he invited us, we should probably say hello to Zeus, and maybe Apollo, if he, ummm, disentangles himself from his friend. And should we say hi to your mom?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Yes. I would love to have a little talk with Artemis."

Ward sighed. "So, that's a no. Let's head this way."

He lead me through the dancing Olympians, and I kept an eye open for Artemis or Aphrodite.

We found Zeus sitting on his throne, entertaining a couple of the younger gods with a story, a story that he abruptly cut off when he saw Ward and I approaching.

I curtseyed respectfully as Ward bowed, and he talked to Zeus about... something while I scanned the crowd for Artemis.

"Maybe Emily would like to go get a drink," Zeus suggested after I had stood there looking bored for about ten minutes. The finer workings of teleportation were boring to someone who can't teleport. Ward said he could, but I told him that stopping time and walking doesn't count.

I smiled my thanks, and headed over to the drink stand. The nectar really was delicious.

After my fourth cup, I started to feel a buzzing in my stomach.

A little voice in the back of my head warned me to stop drinking, but the pulsing music and sound of people laughing and talking made me settle into a strong sense of security. I had another glass.

Then, I saw Artemis enter.

Now, before you wonder why I was tiffed at Artemis (this time), I'll explain. This Christmas, in honor of it being my first Christmas with a mother, I sent her a little joke gift. It was a picture of the moon landing, and it had the caption "Man on the Moon: Don't worry. You still have huntin- Oh wait..." Artemis, shockingly, didn't get my humor. In fact, she responded by making me go blind for the rest of Christmas break.

So, I had planned my telling off beforehand, even practicing my speech to tell her off in

an intelligent and eloquent manner.

I had not, however, planned on stumbling over to her and shouting "Since men landed on the Moon, does that mean you broke your vow twice?" which sounded brilliant to my nectar-clouded mind.

Artemis, however, did not appreciate my brilliance, and shot a beam of energy at me that sent me flying backwards, into the refreshment table.

The bowl holding the nectar shattered, and I felt the shards slice into my back.

The nectar started seeping into the cuts, and then started to burn.

My vision went spotty, and I hazily wondered if my meeting with my vampire in-laws was going well.

Then, the burning reached my heart, and I collapsed into the broken glass and blacked out.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

I awoke sometime later to the faint sound of music and voices. I also awoke to a very odd feeling in my stomach.

Glancing around, I noticed that I was in a room with thick clouds for walls. I also noticed that Ward was sitting by my bed and he had his eyes closed and he was muttering something.

I jerked my hand, and noticed that no part of me hurt. Shocking.

Ward looked up, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Emily?" he said, looking at me warily for some reason.

I shook my head, using my innocent face. "Who's Emily?"

He frowned at me for a second and stared deep into my eyes. "Artemis."

I involuntarily twitched with anger, and a hot sensation spread throughout my body.

"Don't scare me like that." Ward said, since my reaction revealed my absence of memory loss. "How are you... feeling?"

His tone confused me. "Fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you're kinda glowing. Almost like you're a-"

Bam!

The door slammed open and two Olympians came in, one against her will.

Zeus, who was dragging Artemis by her arm, stood and looked at me for a second, narrowing his eyes.

Artemis wouldn't make eye contact, but just her presence made my vision go blurry with rage. I saw Ward scoot away out of the corner of my eye.

"Artemis, what have you done?" Zeus thundered, apparently finishing his examination. "Do you see what she is now?"

I glanced down at myself. Except for a faint glow, I didn't see any horrible deformities that would make me the abomination Zeus's tone implied.

Artemis glanced quickly at Zeus. "It's possible this is just a side effect. It doesn't mean

she's totally a-"

"Only one way to find out." he said, scowling. He snapped his fingers, and I was lifted in the air.

He snapped his fingers again, and I was slammed into the nearest wall with enough force to knock an elephant unconscious (or so I'm guessing).

Normally, this would be the part where I cleverly (...I wish) alluded to swearing, but I didn't feel a thing. Stunned, I stood up and dusted the rubble off my dress, which was still in remarkable shape.

Artemis and Zeus winced and Ward gaped at me. Knowing I couldn't yell at Zeus for the stunt he just pulled, I glanced at the wall. There was an Emily-shaped dent in it, which is pretty hard to do in a wall made of clouds.

"You're a goddess," Ward said simply, still gaping at me.

I smiled at him awkwardly. "Most girls would take that as a compliment, but I prefer 'Empress of the Universe.' But that's still sweet."

He snorted and shook his head. "Emily, I mean a real goddess. You're immortal. Just look at the wall, and the way you are glowing. It's golden."

Sure enough, I did have a faint golden tinge to my skin. I turned to calmly face Zeus, and then it hit me. I'M A GODDESS?

"Yes, you are a goddess. What would you like to have domain over? You can have part of Artemis's power if you wish, since it's her fault you're here." Zeus said, shooting daggers at Artemis, who looked horrified.

Now, since I got to know the Olympians, I had always dreamed of becoming a immortal. Never dying, staying young forever, shape shifting, not being terrified of Artemis or Ares or Aphrodite, man. This is going to be good. And here is Zeus, offering me part of Artemis's kingdom. Should I take the Moon or hunting...

A vision of me sitting on the Moon, basking in it's power, being the most powerful being on Earth appeared before my eyes, before it was replaced with the vision of Artemis fighting Ares and Aphrodite, dripping in ichor, while Thalia laid unconscious nearby. It had been almost a year, but the guilt continued to make me feel like a sack full of horrible romance novels. Without the romance. And the novels. Never mind, bad metaphor.

Still struggling mentally to do the right thing, I said quickly "I would like to be the goddess of gnomes please."

Artemis, who had been staring at the ground, looked up swiftly, apparently shocked that I could choose to be a good person.

Zeus stared at me for a second as if checking to make sure I was serious. When I continued to look at him calmly, he smiled a little. "And so it shall be. You are hereby deemed Emily Wolf, Protector and Gatherer of Gnomes. Enjoy your... powers?"

We all laughed for a second, and I tried to stop myself from requesting the Moon.

Then Zeus turned to Artemis.

"Now, you need to be punished. Blasting another guest across the room and almost killing them is horribly inappropriate. I can't ignore this anymore. You have left me no choice. I am hereby stripping you of your Olympian powers, including immortality until further notice. Maybe having to actually watch your step will change the way you behave."

Artemis and I gasped. "Father, you can't! You know full well how quickly my enemies will kill me! If you want me dead, do it yourself."

I widened my eyes. Even I thought she was acting rashly, and that's coming from the person who faked a heart attack to win an archery contest.

Zeus glared at her for several seconds before shaking his head. "You can't talk your way out of this one. I'll give you a mental connection to Emily, but that's it. You'll be in her mercy for once." he snapped his fingers, and I suddenly found myself hearing another voice. It was spewing endless streams of profanity, so I assumed it was Artemis.

I turned to look at her with the biggest smirk I had ever possessed. "Do you talk to your mother with that language, Arty?"

Even though I knew she couldn't hurt me, I took a small step back when her eyes flashed red. Zeus sighed and walked out of the room, motioning for Ward to come with him.

As soon as the door closed, Artemis turned to glare at me. "Go ahead."

Pausing in the process of sitting down, I turned to look at her. "Go ahead with what?"

"Your revenge. Just get it over with." she spat, looking at the ground.

My heart hurt a little bit when I heard the raw terror in her thoughts, but then she started to think in Greek, and I couldn't understand. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Of course you are. You tried to several times before you even had powers."

I winced and shook my head. "That only happened after you tortured me for hours on end. I'm not going to hurt you. Unless you set me on fire or something."

She looked up at me skeptically, obviously expecting me to be as awful as she was.

"Well, I'm going to head home. See you later." I stood up, and paused.

I have no idea how to teleport.

Turning to Artemis with an embarrassed half-smile, I asked "How exactly do I teleport?"

"If you take me with you, I'll teach you how to be a goddess." she offered.

I snorted. "Aren't you still afraid that I'm going to turn all insane on you? Why do you want to come with me?"

"Better you than Ares." she muttered, but I caught it with my Olympian hearing of awesomeness.

I smiled sympathetically at her, knowing it would drive her insane. "It's okay, Artemis. I'll protect you."

A muscle in her jaw twitched, and I could barely contain my gleeful grin. This was going to be fun.

"Imagine yourself at wherever you want to be, and command the air to take you there. But first, calm down enough to stop glowing," Artemis ordered. Rolling my eyes, I complied, and she grabbed my elbow

I concentrated on my living room, and I felt a overwhelming sense of power sweep through my veins. Then, there was a lurching sensation, and I was in my house. My dad's briefcase was on the table, so I knew he was home.

Artemis had let go of me, and she looked like she wanted to throw up. "That was... much faster than I expected. Maybe you were onto something with your gnomes. Do you have one here?"

I gestured at the gnome above the mantelpiece. "Chompsky's a member of this family."

"Weird." she said. "So, let's head outside. The sooner you get training, the better."

Curious, I followed her outside.

It was getting dark, and we walked almost to the back of my acre-long yard before she turned around, and flicked a dagger at me.

Normally, it would have pierced me like something that pierces a lot (I'm tired, okay?), but my hand shot up and a beam of energy disintegrated it before it could scratch me.

While I was doing a victory dance to celebrate my new dose of awesomeness, I didn't notice that she had drawn a second dagger, which she proceeded to throw into my arm.

Immediately, my arm started pulsing, and the wind around me seemed to pick up.

Artemis fell on her knees and covered her eyes as my slight control over my glowing faded away. My heart almost burst with anger, and I could tell that I was glowing even brighter than before. And it felt great.

"Stop!" she yelled, and I could barely hear her. "Control yourself! Be stronger than the pain!"

Suddenly, through her thoughts, she showed me an image of my dad, who was still in the house. If I hurt him, I would never forgive myself.

The wind stopped, and I focused my rage on the blade imbedded in my arm. It immediately disintegrated, and I let loose a little (but still embarrassing) "Woop!" of joy.

My arm wound, instead of healing like I expected, continued to leak a golden substance that was much less cool when it was coming from me.

"How do I heal?" I asked Artemis, panicking when the trickle of ichor became a stream.

She shrugged. "Do what seems natural."

"That's screaming profanity at the top of my lungs," I said with a sarcastic smile. "Just tell me what you do!"

I had started to glow unconsciously, and I saw Artemis take a wary step back, which is exactly what I would have done BI (Before Immortality).

Sighing in frustration, I normalled down. "Sorry. Now could you please explain how to stop this river of golden blood from leaving my body?"

"Focus on the wound, and will it to close. Now that you're a goddess, everything will obey you, including your own body. I find that talking helps."

Feeling slightly ridiculous, I spoke to my arm. "Come on little guy. You don't want to bleed. You can heal now. Don't worry, I won't let the big bad dagger hurt you again."

To my eternal (because I'll be around for that long now) surprise, the wound closed up.

I turned to Artemis with a slightly manic grin. "Teach me everything."

-/-/

At first, learning was difficult, but by the time the sun started to rise, I could teleport, heal, shoot bursts of energy, summon a sword out of nowhere, levitate a little, speak a little Greek (mostly profanity), and move super quickly. It only took about 6 hours and 2 broken trees.

We headed inside, and Artemis collapsed on the couch, but I was too jazzed up to even think about resting.

I teleported myself to a nearby hill, and laughed when I didn't even feel chilly. Being a goddess is great!

Suddenly, it occurred to me that I could do anything I wanted. In history class, we had watched a very exciting (*snort*) movie about the pyramids, and I decided to go on a little trip.

Remembering what Artemis had told me, I focused on willing myself to the pyramids.

The usual vacuum feeling returned, but it felt a lot different when I was actually in control, because I knew I could jump out at any moment and end up in a brand new place.

I popped into real life, and realized I made a horrible mistake (not as bad as Artemis's).

Instead of teleporting myself to the space in front of a pyramid, I had teleported myself to the top of a pyramid.

I had just enough time to open my mouth to swear before I slipped and fell down the side.

Learning to find the slant height of a pyramid in Geometry didn't help my current predicament, so I felt slightly ripped off.

I thudded on my face, then my back, then my face, and so on, for what seemed like an interminable amount of time.

52 bounces before I hit the bottom. 52 pronking bounces.

Laying on the ground, I felt an overwhelming since of gratitude that nobody had seen my little tumble.

I got to my feet with a groan, and teleported myself home, put on some sweats, and collapsed in my bed. Being a goddess is hard.

-/-/-/

_Emily!_

I jolted awake, like I had heard someone call my name.

_Emily! Come to the living room. Now!_

Too lazy to walk, I teleported myself there, only to feel a lump of dread fall into my stomach.

For the second time, Ares and Aphrodite were in my living room, but this time I had to actually do something.

"So, you finally became a goddess? Excellent. I've been needing a new playmate." Ares said, smiling his usual (AKA predatory) smile at me. Aphrodite rolled her eyes and flicked her fingers at Artemis, who was currently being held immobilized in midair, and by the profanity running through her thoughts, it wasn't pleasant for her.

Without a clever comment (hey, it was only noon!), I shot energy at Ares, hoping to catch him off guard.

Instead, he absorbed the energy, and send a wave of force at me, which pinned me to the wall, along with most of my furniture.

I tried to teleport, but the force crushing me was too great.

"I see you never worked on defense. Allow this to be your first lesson." Ares said, unable to resist showing off even now. "When I do this,"

He raised his hand and then bent his fingers slightly. To my horror, a pressure seemed to emanate from the bones themselves, and my spine started to bend, painfully.

"Your body obeys the stronger force. Which is, and always will be me.

My vision started to go spotty, but I didn't lose consciousness, unfortunately. I tried to push his force out with my own, but, it didn't work.

"That was a nice try," Ares said condescendingly. "but no dice. Maybe next time, you'll think twice before challenging a real Olympian." As he spoke, he bent his hand more and more, until my bones began to crack, and listening to him became rather hard. "So, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to break you, then send you into Tartarus for the first time. Then, I'm going to take Artemis, and torture her every day for the rest of eternity. I'll keep her alive, just for that, so don't think it'll be short. And lastly, once you reincarnate, Aphrodite is going to have Eros shoot you, and you will fall in love with the most disgusting, awful man we can find. Probably our son Anteros. So, you have that to look forward to."

The dread in my stomach was growing bigger and bigger until I could hardly breathe. If I wasn't being held against the wall, I would have been shaking down to my toes.

Ares took a step toward me and unclenched his hand, and I gasped for air.

"What? No witty comment? I'm surprised." Aphrodite piped in, contributing (in her usual pointless, useless, and skanky way) to the conversation for the first time.

I shrugged, with difficulty. "I'm just wondering how you are going to handle your jealousy. Ares obviously doesn't want you around, since he clearly prefers Artemis's company. Someone's been replaced..." I trailed off, relishing the anger in her face.

Before I could continue to antagonize her, I saw Ares walking toward me with what seemed to be a bronze whip.

Terror filled my mind, and then I heard Artemis shout at me thorough the link.

_Explode! Now!_

Without thinking, I reached into the terror and released all of it.

Immediately, I felt like I was exploding into little pieces. Pain wracked my body, and I used that pain to fuel my explosion.

My vision became a solid screen of bright white, and I collapsed in the most pain I had ever felt.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Emily, wake up." I heard a somewhat familiar voice say impatiently. "It's Artemis."

At the sound of her name, I opened my eyes for a second and then closed them. I was too tired to deal with my crazy mother.

"She's dying. And you almost destroyed a city and yourself."

"What?" I exclaimed, jumping to my feet. "How?"

The events of yesterday flashed through my mind, and I winced.

Apollo was standing next to me, and for the first time I looked around to see where I was.

It wasn't an Olympian room, and there were two beds. One was mine, and one had a horribly disfigured...

"Artemis?" I gasped, rushing over to kneel by her bed.

She had cuts all over her face her arms had horrible bruises. Even her soul looked broken.

"I can't fix it. " Apollo said in despair. "I don't have enough power in reserve and I can't give all of mine. She's going to die."

I had never seen the Sun god cry before, but he did now, in abundance. His usually perfect golden hair was messed up, and he looked like he hadn't slept in a while.

Feeling hopeless, I stared at her for several moments before it occurred to me.

"Can you take my power? I don't need immortality." I offered, for some unknown reason.

Apollo's jaw dropped, and I wanted to take my words back. But when I looked at a horribly bruised Artemis, I knew I couldn't.

"Are you sure? Being a goddess is a lot to give up," Apollo pointed out, half-heartedly. He cared about Artemis even more than I did.

I nodded, and he grabbed my arm. He laid his other one on Artemis's forehead.

Immediately, I felt a major draining emanating from my arm, and it was all I could do to not yank it away.

"Sorry for the whole 'I'm kinda stealing your soul,' thing." he apologized, but I couldn't respond.

Even as I looked, the glow started to fade from my body and return to Artemis's. I had to cover my eyes at the glow, and I felt my strange source of energy dissipate from my heart.

Suddenly, with a gasp, Artemis woke up and jumped to her feet.

The last of my awesomeness left, and I collapsed back on the bed I woke up on.

"What happened?" Artemis asked, having random sparks shooting from her skin. One ignited a nearby table, but this didn't seem like the time to mention it. "How did this happen?"

While Apollo explained the course of events, I tried to adjust for my lack of strength. Even standing up had become 1000 times more difficult.

"Emily." Artemis addressed me, bringing me out of my complaining thoughts. "Why?"

She didn't have to explain what she meant, so I didn't ask her to.

"I can't fight Ares on my own," I lied, unable to vocalize the truth.

Artemis opened her mouth probably to demand a real answer, but seemed to rethink it. "Well, thanks."

A hug didn't seem an appropriate thank-you for someone giving up immortality, so we stood awkwardly, until Zeus walked in.

He looked at me, obviously mortal, and Artemis, obviously not, and just shook his head. "I'll get the story later. Artemis, I hereby restore your full powers and privileges to you. I hope this was a good lesson to you. Emily, since you willingly gave it up, I'm guessing, I can't return your immortality. Sorry. Now, how about getting you home..."

He snapped his fingers, and I shot through space. Becoming mundane was actually very tiring, so I barely had enough energy to get up from the couch and turn my PlayStation on.

The opening screen for Dragon Age 2 (Dynasty Warriors 7 is in the mail) appeared, and I sighed. Back to being the same old boring human with the same old boring life.

I had played for about ten minutes when my front door opened and Ward walked in, wearing khakis and a green polo.

He sat down and raised an eyebrow, and I explained everything to him (leaving out the little pyramid escapade.)

Nodding every now and then to show that he was paying attention, he took the news of my adventures in silence.

Then, when I was finished, he stood up and walked over to me.

"Maybe it's a good thing you aren't a goddess," he said, smiling a smile I had never seen before. "because this would be totally inappropriate."

He leant down and kissed me. My heart did a confusing stutter-step routine, but that's not what I was focusing on, if you catch my drift (if so, you should play softball. Pity laugh, anyone?).

Maybe things do change after all.

He sat on the couch next to me, and reached for my hand. The second we made contact, a literal spark traveled between us, and I winced and let go.

Then again, maybe not.

**AN2: In honor of the 2-year anniversary of my little story, I thought I would revive my story from the grave, only for one chapter. Sorry the writing isn't on par, but my English teacher used up all my good writing. So, for the final time (for real this time, maybe), thank you and gods bless. P.S. You should check out my friend Turtlefoot's story.**


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